Of Fire and Ice
by Flame3
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)
1. The War Has Begun

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Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 1  
The War Has Begun  
  
It was about eleven thirty at night, and most lights in the city had been shut off while the citizens slept. But in a mansion one light remained on. The light's home was in Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. In his office, where the light was on, was all the students, teachers, and guests that lived in the mansion. The students sat in chairs and on the ground in front of Professor Xavier while the rest stood in the back.  
  
"We are in grave danger now. There is no guarantee to our safety," Charles told them. "I strongly recommend to you that if you have a home to go to and be safe that you go. You will be safer there."  
  
"And what if we don't?" Asked a teenage boy sitting in a chair to the right of the professor.   
  
"Then you should stay here," Xavier told him.  
  
"Where's John?" Asked another boy, sitting on the ground.  
  
"John is safe," Xavier told him.  
  
"Are we going to do anything to protect us here?" Asked a teenage boy in a chair, who was obviously trying to change the subject.  
  
Xavier looked at him and knew his troubles. This boy was Bobby Drake. Possibly John Allerdyce's only friend at the school. He had the mutant power to freeze moisture in the air and any other source of moisture that he was near. Until recent events, his parents believed he was just at a prep school. Unlike some other students, he didn't have a safe place to go home to. At least not anymore. It was like this because his brother had betrayed him. He wasn't quite sure when or how, but the look in his brothers eyes when the police came for him and the others was proof. Bobby had never imagined how much hate and fear his brother possessed. Maybe they were happier now that he was away...  
  
"I will spend as much time as possible to sustain a solid psychic wall around the school," Xavier started, being quite confident. "With the help of Jean...", he started, but stopped realizing his error.  
  
Those who already knew of Jean's accident turned to look at Scott Summers and how he was reacting to all of this. He was standing his ground though, not flinching, or even moving for that matter. You couldn't even tell if his eyes were open because of the red-quartz glasses that he always wore.   
  
Everyone but Bobby turned his or her attention back to the professor, leaving Bobby to be the only one to see Scott's bottom lip quiver with sorrow. Apparently Bobby wasn't the only one who had suffered a loss. At least Bobby's could somehow be fixed...  
  
After many lectures on precautions from all the superiors, except for Cyclops, they were sent to their rooms. Bobby went to his room as he was told, but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to sleep in the house. He walked through the dark halls and into his room. His roommate was John... so his side of the room was full of his stuff, despite the fact that he no longer lived there. The only thing that was missing in his room was his customized lighter.   
  
Bobby fell onto his bed and just stared at John's side of the room. John and he were lucky enough to not have to share the room with multiple people like most of the others. Xavier said it was because they were like senior members of the organization and he would hate to see them suffer because their numbers were increasing.  
  
Bobby looked at the nightstand that divided the room into the two equal parts. On John's side was his wallet. Bobby reached over and opened it. A few dollar bills were in it, but most the thing that caught Bobby's attention was the pictures inside. There were only four... three old ones and one new. The first old one was of a woman with long and well taken care of hair. Her eyes were shaped exactly like John's, so Bobby took at that it was his mother. The next was the same woman but this time holding a baby in her arms. The baby was John... The next picture was another of John's mother, but this time she was in an evening dress. Bobby admitted that she was quite beautiful.   
  
The final picture was one of him and John... they were at the mall at that time. Bobby could remember it. It was one of those photo booths and he and John were just having some fun. Bobby had lost his... he was suprised John even kept his.   
  
Did John even get to know his mother? He never talked about him. Heck... he didn't even know where John had come from before the school. Bobby wondered why he never talked about it.   
  
He missed John... his only friend in this stupid place. Why did he have to hide? Why couldn't people like him without being normal? Bobby had given up on love... Rogue and he couldn't even hold hands without those stupid gloves getting in the way. It just wasn't fair. He could almost predict the future. He knew that he was probably going to die from someone who feared mutants. Someone who didn't understand him. Little did 'normal' people know, Bobby would give up this curse to be normal any day.  
  
Bobby set the wallet back down and slipped into a T-shirt and pajama bottoms. He then walked downstairs to the kitchen. He reached the doorless entrance and was about to walk in, but someone else was in there. He peaked around the corner and saw Scott sitting there, drinking what appeared to be some kind of alcoholic beverage. Scott then looked up catching a small glance of Bobby.  
  
"Who's there?" He asked, standing out. "Come out."  
  
Bobby looked at his options, run and get blasted, or come out and get scolded. He chose option number two and stepped into view.  
  
Scott looked at him through his sunglasses and down at the bottle of beer. He walked over to the sink and poured the rest out and placed the bottle into the glass recycling box in the pantry. He turned and looked at the shocked Bobby and lowered his head in shame.  
  
"Can we keep this between ourselves?" He asked.   
  
"Yeah," Bobby said.  
  
Scott then walked to Bobby and took off his sunglasses, keeping his eyes shut. The tight fitting glasses were now loose and a puddle from each side dripped down his face and he quickly wiped them away. He placed them back on his face and looked at Bobby.  
  
"I... I...," he said and then collapsed on the ground and put his head between his knees. "I miss her so much..."  
  
Scott then started to cry real hard, so hard that Bobby's eyes started to water. It was so shocking and depressing to see the man that was so strong and happy collapse and cry like a baby. Bobby kneeled down next to him and put his arm around his shoulders. Scott leaned over and the to went into a hug.   
  
Bobby then realized how stupid all of this was. This war has already taken his best friend, now it has taken this man's love.  
  
Bobby swore that he would stop any more losses as a tear escaped from his eyes and froze half way down his cheek... 


	2. Rejection

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Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
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Chapter 2  
Rejection  
  
Bobby had spent a week in the mansion after the long meeting. His bedroom was still empty...  
  
Today was the day to the mall that the professor gave them once per three weeks. Even though they had to start taking extreme safety precautions, the professor still wanted them to have some normality in their life.  
  
"This is now more of a privilege," he had told them. "If you make a mistake this time, or any other time in the future, you will not be attending these trips any longer."  
  
Bobby wasn't a troublemaker, so he did not have much to worry about. He showered, got dressed in some decent clothes (are as much as he could afford since he was on his own budget without parental support) and walked in front of the school where he could board the charter bus.  
  
The ride to the mall would be a bit different too... John wasn't here so he wouldn't have anyone to talk to besides his girlfriend.   
  
He boarded with a crowd of others and got a seat towards the back. He sat by the window and waited for Rogue to come on to. When she did, she looked Bobby in the eye and just stood there... frozen...  
  
She didn't walk back and sit next to him, she sat in the very front seat and grabbed the first person she knew to sit next to her.  
  
"What's she doing?" A boy behind Bobby asked. "Did you two split?"  
  
"No...," Bobby said.   
  
"Well, hate to break it to ya' man, but it don't look like she wants to keep it together anymore," he said and went to another conversation with a group of guys in the back.  
  
Why was she doing this to Bobby? He worked so hard to assure her that they could be together without touching... without any skin to skin contact... is she going to take all their efforts and throw them out the window?  
  
Up at the front of the bus, Rogue sat with her friend Barbara and she was asking the same questions as the boy did Bobby. "Why aren't you sitting with Bobby?"  
  
"I'm doing for him what he could never do for himself," was how she replied.  
  
"What do you mean?" Barbara asked.  
  
"Am I the only one that sees it? I'm ruining his life!" She said with anger. "His life is already messed up because he's a mutant, but having a girlfriend that he can't hold hands with without these stupid gloves getting in the way makes it all worse!"  
  
"But he loves you," he friend told her. "He is willing to deal with this to be with you!"  
  
"He'll find someone else...," was the last thing she told her and turned and looked outside the window.  
  
Rogue and Bobby never spoke to each other very often after this... it was her way of letting him go, or as she put it, "doing what he can't do for himself..."  
  
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AT THE MALL  
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Bobby finally reached the mall. It was pretty big, with at least 200 places to shop, eat, and anything else you could think of. He decided that the food court was the only place for him to go right now... so that he could think.  
  
He sat down at a table-for-two towards the left side of the food court and just sat there. He then let the thoughts he had flood his mind, now that he had time to sort through them.  
  
He thought about his family. How they probably don't want anything to do with now that they burned half of his house and found out that he had been keeping a secret from them for the last year or two. John... his only friend that he could talk to and have fun with abandoned him for the evil... did he mean that little to John?  
  
Why the hell would he break their friendship for some guy who wants to destroy all humans? That wasn't like John... well not like the John that Bobby thought he knew.  
  
And Rouge... why did she did she do this to him!? He gave up almost everything he had before her so that he could make her happy emotionally. He couldn't touch her... but what was that all about? He needs to touch someone you love when all you need is to be able to love their soul and no matter how much he tried he could never touch hers, or anyone else's, because the only way to it is through her eyes... And God knows he didn't need anything else but her eyes to love her... his Rouge...  
  
Someone sitting in front of him interrupted his thoughts. It was a she and she definitely didn't belong to "Mutant High". She had big and bright brown eyes, and brown hair that came down to her shoulder blades. She smiled at Bobby and started to talk.  
  
"Hey... what's wrong gloomy bug?" She said giggling. "Whatcha thinking about?"  
  
"Nothing," Bobby said and left his thoughts and aimed his attention to the girl.  
  
"I'm Katy," she said and held her hand out.  
  
Bobby shook it and gave his introduction. "I'm Bobby."  
  
"Hi Bobby," she said smiling with pearly white teeth. "Do you want to go get a drink?"  
  
"Well... um...," Bobby said, sticking a hand in his pocket. "I'm short on money."  
  
"I'll buy," she said standing up and grabbing his hand, taking him to a Burger King line. She bought them both a coke and they went back to their seats.  
  
"So... where do you live?" She asked.  
  
"Not to far from here," he replied.  
  
"Well... where do you go to school?" She said, obviously trying to start a conversation.  
  
"I'm home schooled," Bobby replied with a not-much-of-a-lie reply.  
  
"No wonder your so uncomfortable around me!" She said laughing out loud.  
  
Bobby joined in on the laughter and closed his eyes. He could feel the energy of laughter flow through his body and it lifted up his overall charisma. He felt a tingle in his hands and when he opened his eyes to see the laughing Katy again, he saw her big brown eyes opened even wider. He looked down at his drink and saw that it was a solid block of ice... he lost control of his powers.  
  
"Your... your a mutant!" She said, standing up.  
  
Bobby set the frozen drink down and stood up to. "Please don't run aw-...," he began, but she interrupted him.   
  
"I got to go!" She said and walked away quickly.  
  
Bobby sat down and put his head down on the table... rejected... just because he could freeze stuff didn't make him completely unbearable to be near even though he was different. Why?  
  
Before he could answer this question, he heard a scream from a store to his left. Inside a large electronic store was someone with a gun pointed at the person next to the cash register. Someone that was floating in the air... 


	3. Mutant Gang

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 3  
Mutant Gang  
  
Bobby looked around for someone he knew. If John were there, they would already be in the electronics store to stop the robbery. Bobby knew he had to get over him not being there. He didn't need John...  
  
He ran to the electronics store and he saw that a girl was the person armed with the gun. She had her hair up in a bun, and her face showed Asian features. She was wearing all black and black gloves. She looked around the age of seventeen or eighteen. But the most noticeable detail he saw was that she was levitating in the air.  
  
"Give me all the cash!" She said, floating closer to the man. "NOW!"  
  
"Anything you want Miss!" He yelled, opening the register. "Please... just don't shoot!'"  
  
Bobby lifted his hand and concentrated slightly, feeling his power starting to power up and freezing the moisture in the air into ice. The ice shot in a straight line right into the girl's gun, making it a huge block of ice. People around them started to panic.  
  
The girl dropped to the ground and looked right at Bobby. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out two knives and opened them, revealing a shiny, sharp blade.  
  
"Who are you, boy?" She asked. "Why are you using your powers against your own kind?"  
  
"Just leave!" Bobby yelled. "You shouldn't use your powers for stuff like this!"  
  
"You'll pay for this!" She yelled and flew at him, literally, posing her knives in a special stance.  
  
Bobby's ice couldn't stop her in time to save himself, so he followed his instinct and covered his face with his arms. He felt one knife slice his arm, but a second slash never met… only a flash of red light.   
  
Bobby took his arms down from their defensive position and he saw the attacker on the opposite side of the room. He looked behind him to see Scott Summers with his hands on his glasses, revealing to Bobby that he had just blasted her with his optic blast.  
"Are you okay?" Scott asked Bobby, walking up to him and taking a look at the gash in his arm.  
  
"I'm fine...," he said.  
  
Scott was about to tell him something else, but he quickly looked up to see the girl getting up and running out of an emergency exit in the back of the store.   
  
"Wait!" Scott yelled and ran after her.  
  
Bobby looked at his options. He could stay here with all these people staring at him, or he could follow Scott and possibly help. He chose to help and ran to the back of the store to join Scott.  
  
The exit led to an alleyway. Bobby looked to the dead end and saw not only Scott and the girl, but five others. Two if them were Logan and Professor Munroe, also known as Storm. The other three were definitely with the girl because they all seemed ready to fight. Bobby ran to their aid.  
  
He stopped a little behind Professor Munroe, Scott, and Logan to see if there was a plan of action. The enemy was already shouting a plan. The original attacker was the leader of the group because she was the on giving out orders.  
  
"Freeze them, Beth!" The girl yelled and a petite girl walked in front of her.  
  
The girl had long white hair and was wearing a dirtied, plain white dress and a light blue sweater, which was also dirty. She was wearing white sneakers and had ice blue eyes that were abnormal and strangely creepy.  
  
Logan summoned his metal claws from his hands and took a lung at the girl, but before he reached her, he was stopped. He didn't struggle to get of his position in mid-air, he just stood in the same position. He was truly frozen. The girl called out more orders.  
  
"Freeze the rest of them, Beth!" She yelled.   
  
"I can't," Beth told her. "This one is to powerful. It's hard to keep him here...".  
  
"I'll take care of this," another girl said. "I'll get the albino chick."  
  
"Good," the leader said. "I'll take the guy with the glasses. Just keep the one frozen Beth, he might be a tricky one to kill."  
  
The girl who was going to attack Professor Munroe didn't waste any time to start her attack.  
  
She was quite unique looking and pretty. She had brown hair with lime green highlights in it, and she wore an all green outfit all the way down to her shoes. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small brown object. It was a seed...  
  
"Surrender now and you won't be hurt!" Professor Munroe told her.   
  
"Shove it!" The girl wearing green yelled and threw the seed at her.   
  
The seed sprouting while flying into a large plant. It grew vines at least six feet long and they immediately wrapped around Professor Munroe, squeezing the life out of her. The other girl was levitating again and had her knives ready for more slicing. She lunged into the air at Scott, dodging all his optic blasts and kicking him in the face. Scott fell to the ground, leaving only Bobby and a boy on the other side standing. The boy was definitely about to fight and cowered over into a corner.  
  
Bobby looked at the girl that was attacking Professor Munroe and he readied his ice power. He aimed for the vines and fired. The vines froze and the girl controlling them looked at Bobby with disgust. Bobby aimed his ice at her now, and froze her legs to the ground.   
  
He turned to the girl who had froze Logan in the air and sent a small mist of ice into the air, aiming right at her eyes. She clutched them and screamed in pain. Logan fell from his frozen space and landed on the ground.  
  
"What da' hell...," he mumbled, but quickly decided to fight and not to question.  
  
Bobby was gonna let him take on the offense and backed away, but a taunting gesture caught his attention. It was from the girl wearing green. She held her hand in front of her, palm up, and blew on it. A mist of purple powder flew from her hand and surrounded Bobby. He took a breath of surprise and soon his mind was getting foggy.  
  
"Sweet dreams, preppy boy!" She yelled, definitely angry... and Bobby blanked out...  
  
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Bobby woke up in a cold room with a bright light shining in his eyes. He could feel that his shirt was off and that there were a few monitors around him, beeping.  
  
"I think he will be fine, Professor," said a familiar woman's voice.   
  
"The spores the girl let loose were quite toxic." Bobby heard the Professor announce. "He could have died."  
  
The light left Bobby's eyes and he was able to see that Professor Munroe and Professor Xavier were next to him.  
  
"Wuh... What happened?" Bobby asked, looking down and seeing if he was in one piece.  
  
"A girl attacked you in an alley way at the mall with toxic spores," Xavier told him. "Her and the others were defeated and brought here. Don't worry, everything and everyone is fine."  
  
"Where are they?" Bobby asked sitting up.  
  
"They are locked in a room right now, I've put a psionic field around the door and window so they can't escape. I've identified all of their mutations... except for the boy," Xavier told him. "But I'll find out."  
  
"I'll help you to your room," Professor Munroe said handing Bobby his shirt. "You should rest for a while. You've got a pretty deep gash in your arm. Give it time to heal."  
  
She did as she said and helped him from the secret section of the mansion to the main level and to his room. He dropped on his bed and Professor Munroe left, shutting the door behind her.  
  
Who were those mutants? Did they have some kind of connection to John? He would soon find out... 


	4. Meet the Mutants

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 4  
Meet the Mutants  
  
Bobby woke up the next morning and just lay there for at least an hour. He was just thinking... he had lots of time to think now. But because he had so much time to think, he didn't have anyone to turn to for his problems. There was no one.  
  
He got out of bed and quickly put on some sandals. He wasn't going outside so he could just walk around comfortably. When he walked out of his door he ran into someone. He recoiled into the wall and hit his head pretty hard.  
  
"Are you okay?" Said the emotionless voice of Scott Summers.  
  
"Yeah," Bobby replied, rubbing the back of his head. "What are you doing up here?"  
  
"I'm supposed to check on the captured mutants," he replied.   
  
"Do you know anything about them?" Bobby asked.  
  
"You'll have to ask the Professor about that," Scott said and then walked away without warning.  
  
Bobby walked the opposite direction to the staircase and walked down. He was going to go to the Professor's office. Surely he would tell Bobby some information on the mutants they captured.  
  
When he reached the Professor's office door, he got read to knock. But before he could he heard a voice, "Come in Bobby!"  
  
Bobby remembered that Professor Xavier was psychic and opened the door. There he was sitting behind his desk, flipping through some documents.  
  
"I just wanted to ask...," Bobby started, but the Professor finished for him.  
  
"...about the mutants? Of course, sit down please," he replied, not looking up. "I just pulled up some information on their records."  
  
"You can access records?" Bobby asked, sitting down in the guest chair and leaning forward.  
  
"Well, I've revealed a bit to much to you. Let's pretend that I never said that," he replied, looking up and smiling.  
  
"Now then," Xavier started, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Bobby. "This is the gang's leader, Samira Lowell."  
  
"She's the one that gave me this," Bobby informed him, looking up from her picture and pointing to his bandaged wound.  
  
"Yes, she has the mutation to levitate," Xavier replied. "She also seems to be very skilled in fighting arts, most likely from her Asian heritage."  
  
"What about the girl with the white hair?" Bobby asked, and the Professor handed him her file.  
  
"Bethany Devereaux. She can stop atoms and molecules, freezing the object or objects she wishes," he told Bobby.  
  
"Yeah," he said. "She froze Logan in mid-air!"  
  
Xavier then passed him the file on the girl with the lime-green streaks in her hair. "This is Natalie Ailas. She seems to have some kind of control over the Earth. All I've collected from her mind is that she can send off spores, as you know, and control some plant growth."  
  
"You searched their minds?" Bobby asked, cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes, but they didn't sense it or feel anything," the professor replied. "It was necessary to discover what they are capable of. Although I should mention that I couldn't search their minds completely. I don't know if they are a branch off of some larger mutant organization, or if they work independently."  
  
"Why not?" Bobby asked. "Aren't you the most powerful psychic mutant?"  
  
"Yes... but... something is keeping out of that room now," he replied, going into deep thoughts.  
  
"What?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Our last mutant captured," Xavier replied, passing the last file over. "Bryan Sawwer."  
  
"What can he do," Bobby asked, not knowing because he didn't fight.  
  
"I don't know, but he must have some kind of psychic abilities. He is able to keep my mind from prowling around," he said, giving a sigh.  
  
"What can you do about it?" Bobby asked.  
  
"I'm going to have to try and get through to him the old fashioned way," Xavier said, looking up. "I'm just going to try talking to him and seeing what happens."  
  
"Is it safe?" Bobby asked, handing him all the files back.  
  
"I will be fine," he said. "Maybe they could prove to be great additions to our home here."  
  
"Isn't it dangerouse here though?" Bobby asked. "We could be attacked at any time now that we're open in the public."  
  
"It is dangerous, but if I turn them loose they will be in a larger amount of danger," he replied.  
  
"But...," Bobby started.  
  
"Enough questions, Bobby!" He said laughing. "You're getting to involved. You should go rest that arm of yours. I've can't keep my mind to occupied. I have to make sure the field stays active in the room they are boarding in."  
  
"I'll go then," Bobby said getting up and walking to the door. "But... tell me if they know anything about John... please..."  
  
"Of course," Xavier replied.  
  
Bobby then walked out of the door, closing it behind him, and then walked back to his room, going up the stairs and turning a few corners. He then noticed a door, further down the hall his was in, with a sign on it. He walked up to, curiously, and read what it had printed on it.  
  
"STAY OUT. RESTRICTED!"  
  
"This is where the mutants are," Bobby whispered under his breath. "It's not like I could go in anyway with the field in the way."  
  
He was about to turn around, but he saw the doorknob slowly turn... and he saw the boy, Bryan, walk out... strait through the psionic field...  
  
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Author's Note: Just in case you're wondering, the mutants won't play a big part in this story. So don't go around screaming "MARY-SUE!" lol ;) And thank you for all the awesome reviews! But... some constructive criticism would be nice. I'm only 15, so I know I need some room for improvement! But I'm pretty sensitive about this story, it's going to have some DEEP stuff in it, so don't bash my face in! lol :) Thanks! 


	5. Connection

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Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 5  
Connection  
  
"HEY!" Bobby yelled as the boy, Bryan, pushed past him and ran down the hall as fast as his body could take him. His black sweater was tight around him and he had the hood up over his head. Bobby didn't waste any time and quickly ran after him. He knew he wasn't going get to him in time, so he concentrated a little to use his power.  
  
He held a hand in front of him and a sheet of ice covered the floor in front of Bryan. He slid across it and ran square into a wall. Bobby caught up to him right when he lost his dizziness. He turned around and looked at Bobby with his green eyes through the hood.   
  
"You're not going anywhere!" Bobby yelled, reaching for his arm so he couldn't escape.  
  
"Please...," the boy whimpered. "Don't touch me!"  
  
Bobby ignored him and grabbed his wrist yanking him up. Bryan's sleeve slid up and Bobby touched his skin. Bryan then screamed with a high pitched voice. Bobby's head got blurry and he let go of him and fell to the floor.  
  
Bryan fell to the floor also, but no because he was in pain... he was just afraid. He fell onto his side and clawed at his head with gloved hands.  
  
"What was that?" Bobby asked, sitting up and looking at the abnormal positioned boy, whimpering on the ground.  
  
Bryan sat up and looked at Bobby with red cheeks and watery eyes. "I told you not to touch me!"  
  
"What did you do to me?" Bobby asked.  
  
"I DON'T KNOW!" He yelled. "Strange things happen when people touch me. I can into their minds or something...I was going to get help but you people trapped us into here!"  
  
"Who?" Bobby asked, standing up, readying his power in case he would need it.  
  
"Who what?" He asked, looking up.  
  
"Who was going to help you?" He said, not wanting to beat around bush.  
  
"Our leader," Bryan said, looking down. "Magneto."  
  
Magneto? That's where John was! Bobby thought that maybe he had heard of John or something... anything! He had to know! This was his only chance to find him again. Bobby dropped to his knees and looked at Bryan in the eye. Bryan could easily sense his seriousness.  
  
"Do you know someone named John?" Bobby asked quickly.  
  
"John?" Bryan asked.  
  
"John... Pyro is his other name. Have you seen him? He's with Magneto," Bobby said quickly.  
  
"Yeah... he's one of Magneto's group," he replied.  
  
"Magneto's group?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Yeah... we're just a branch off a larger group, Magneto's group. He's helped us live," Bryan replied.  
  
"Where are they?" Bobby asked.  
  
"I can't tell you," Bryan said.  
  
"TELL ME NOW!" Bobby yelled at him, growing impatient.  
  
"That's enough!" Interrupted a voice from the stairs. "Get away from him Bobby!"  
  
Bobby turned to see Scott. The look on his face showed that he wasn't very pleased.   
  
"Go to your room," he said. "I'll take him to the professor."  
  
"But he knows where Jo-...," Bobby started.  
  
"It wasn't a question Bobby," he told him and took Bryan's gloved hand, dragging him to the professor's office.  
  
But Bobby knew all he needed to know for now. He knew that John was alive and with Magneto. He could still save him. His best friend... his only friend. All he needed was to find Magneto... 


	6. Paranoia

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Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 7  
Paranoia  
  
Bobby went to his room, as he was told, and sat on his bed thinking about how he was going to find Magneto. If he found Magneto, he would find John. John didn't know what he was getting himself into... he was putting himself in the heart of a war that would attempt to kill all the "un-evolved" humans. But that meant John's parents along with many other mutants. Did he just want to kill his mom because she wasn't like him? Maybe Bobby just didn't understand... maybe there was something else behind his mom. John never said anything about his family. Maybe they were already dead.  
  
Down in Professor Xavier's office, Xavier himself sat behind his desk, with Bryan in the guest chair. Scott and Ororo were close behind to protect the professor if Bryan tried anything.  
  
"Tell me," Xavier said to Bryan. "What do you know about your power?"  
  
"I don't know," Bryan whispered. "I just don't like it when people touch me."  
  
"Why not?" The professor asked.  
  
"Because... I can get into their head or something," Bryan replied, fidgeting with his gloved hands.  
  
"What do you see?" the professor asked.  
  
"I see... their thoughts... everything," Bryan replied, still keeping his low tone.  
  
"Can you control these thoughts?" Xavier asked.  
  
"Yes," Bryan replied. "But I don't do that...".  
  
"Why not?" Xavier asked, knowing he was getting through to something.  
  
"Because I take a piece of them...," He replied.  
  
"You mean you take away their memory?" Xavier asked.  
  
"No..," Bryan told him. "I can kill them...".  
  
"Have you killed someone?" Xavier asked.  
  
"Yes...," Bryan said, choking a little. "But it was an accident! I didn't mean to do it to him!"  
  
"What happened?" Xavier asked, not getting bored with asking all these questions.  
  
"Philip... he was shot... I ran over to him and I held him up and I saw into his mind... but I didn't know what I was doing... I killed him...," Bryan said, anxious to get them to understand it wasn't his fault that Philip died.  
  
"Just one more question, Bryan," Xavier said to him. "I was looking at a picture of you, and you had brown eyes. Yet... now you have green eyes. Can you tell me how?"  
  
Bryan looked at the professor and started to shake. "Philip had green eyes..."  
  
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Xavier asked Ororo to take Bryan back to the others and when she returned, he started to reveal his deductions.  
  
"Bryan has telepathy," he informed them. "It is nowhere near as developed as it could be, but I think he's a danger to himself for now."  
  
"What his eyes?" Ororo asked. "Did he change them himself?"  
  
"No," Xavier replied. "He went so deep into his friends mind that he... "Absorbed" some of him."  
  
"How old is he?" Scott asked.  
  
"Fifteen," Xavier replied. "To young to suffer like he is."  
  
"What do you mean?" Ororo asked. "He's suffering?"  
  
"Paranoia," he told her. "He is afraid. Afraid of human touch and afraid of people all together. He doesn't trust anyone except his four comrades."  
  
"Can you help him?" Scott asked.  
  
"Yes, but he must let me get through to him," he replied. "We will keep him here and let him find out how many other youth there are that are just like him. Maybe he will grow more comfortable that way."  
  
"Do you think Magneto will try and rescue the ones we captured?" Ororo asked.  
  
"Yes," Xavier replied. "He will come soon. I just pray that we can beat him." 


	7. Intruders

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 7  
Intruders  
  
In the gardens behind the Xavier Mansion, three figures snuck in. Lucky for them, Xavier's psionic field wasn't at its full strength because of the presence of Bryan. They had to literally tackle it to get in, but they managed.  
  
The leader of the three stepped forward, his white hair gently floating in the early breeze.  
  
"We find the kid first," he said with a naturally quick voice. "If we can save the others, we will."  
  
"Where are going to enter?" A girl dressed in red asked. "Does she knew to make a door for us?"  
  
"And wake everyone in the house up?" He asked sarcastically. "I don't think so."  
  
"Why don't you help us out?" The leader asked the girl in the red. "Maybe you could unlock the back door for us?"  
  
"I'll try," she said, and they sneaked to the back door.   
  
They reached it and the other member stood behind them, wearing black leather. The girl in the red held her hands forward in a special gesture and a small disc of glowing light flew at the doorknob. After a few seconds, they heard a small click.  
  
"Good job," the girl in the leather told her without much enthusiasm. "But I think that it would have been quicker my way."  
  
They opened the door and prepared to find the girl and destroy anything in their path.  
  
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Bobby was in the kitchen, like he normally was during restless nights. He was drinking cool water and contemplating. He wanted to find John NOW, but that wasn't and option. He had to find a way to talk to Bryan to find out the location of Magneto's headquarters.  
  
He was taking a lot of comfort in the soundless environment. He could really get lost his thoughts without interruptions. The night at "Mutant High" was quite different than they day. No screaming, giggling, classes... just silence.  
  
But the silence was broken when he heard footsteps. He set down his drink down and walked to see if it was someone he knew that was restless also. But when he reached the staircase he saw three unfamiliar bodies. He hid himself on the side of the staircase and took a good look at the three.  
  
One of them was a teen boy dressed in a leather jacket. He walked with at an abnormal speed with his silver jeans and shirt gleaming in the moonlight from the windows. The girl behind him was a little more awkward looking. She had wavy auburn hair and a scarlet witch's hat on her head. She was rubbing her red gloved hands down the sides of her red shirt and skirt, smoothing out the wrinkles. The final imposter was a blonde with hair down to her chin. She walked with a big attitude and walked with her hands crossed in front of her, so when she walked the leather around her arms made the leather noise.  
  
Who were these people? They were in a big hurry and looked a little nervous. When they reached the top, Bobby slowly walked up himself and followed close behind him until they reached their final destination... right in front of the captured mutant's door. They opened it and the one dressed in the witch's hat held her gloved hand forward and let a small disc of light shoot from her hand and at the psionic wall.  
  
Bobby took this as his chance to warn everyone. He leapt forward and shot ice at the intruders and yelled his warning.  
  
"WE'RE BEING ATTACKED!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "HEEEEELP!"  
  
The boy dressed in gray turned quickly, and in milliseconds, he was behind Bobby covering his mouth. This boy had the mutation quick speed.  
  
"Screw this, Quicksilver!" The girl in black leather yelled to the boy. "I'm going for the wall!"  
  
"What are we going to do?" Asked the girl in red when she heard many doors open and running. "Just... hurry up and blow the wall, BoomBoom."  
  
BoomBoom, the girl in leather, nodded and held her hands in front of her. A shining ball of light appeared and grew larger and larger between her outstretched hands. When it was about the size of a basketball she let it go and it inched slowly... giving them time to get out of the way. When it touched the wall and gave a loud explosion.  
  
When the smoke cleared there was a large hole in the wall. The four captured mutants poured out, despite the psionic wall that the professor put there.  
  
"What should we with the boy?" Asked the man holding onto Bobby.  
  
"Lemme take of him!" Said Natura, pushing her green bangs behind her ear. "It's time for pay-back, jerk!"  
  
But before she could do anything, a stream of red light hit her stomach and she flew back into the door at the end of the hallway. They all looked up to see Scott, with his visor on and his finger ready to push the button that releases the optic blasts.  
  
Close behind him was Logan, Professor Munroe, and a little girl. Logan extended his claws and leapt at Quicksilver. He put the up to his neck and spoke to him.  
  
"You let the boy go," he growled. "Unless you're feeling lucky."  
  
Quicksilver took a moment to react, but he removed his arms from Bobby's neck, and Bobby retreated back to the others. Professor Munroe grabbed the little girl's hand and pushed her in front of her. Logan pulled the claws back into his hand and pushed the teen boy in front of him on the ground and quickly walked behind Professor Munroe.  
  
"All right, Theresa," she said. "Aim at them 'only'. You can do it."  
  
Theresa squinted and then opened her mouth and her power began. She screamed at the top of her lungs, causing only those who she wanted to clutch their ears and scream.  
  
When all the enemies were on the ground, they other grew over-confident. They didn't notice the blinking red light in the girl in red's hand. They would soon be changed forever...  
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Author's Note: Sorry... I didn't feel any "oomph" in this chapter. :'( But I can sense JOhn making an appearance next chapter! ;) 


	8. Wounds

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 8  
Wounds  
  
After about five minutes after the button in the girl in red's hand was pushed, a loud crash was heard. The mutants downstairs saw that the front doors were knocked down, and at least forty mutants ran in, immediately using their powers to capture mutants, to destroy, and to create utter chaos...  
  
What could anyone do? The ones that could fought, but if they managed to defeat someone, there was always someone right behind the other.  
  
Bobby panicked, he didn't know what to do. For once in his life he didn't know what to do...he always knew. He just let his mind play the coward and let his instinct take over... He dodged mutant attacks, occasionally letting loose his ice attacks as defense, but all he could do was find a door and run out of it, just to save himself.  
  
He made it outside... maybe he was the only one... all those people were being captured and only God knows what will happen to them...  
  
Bobby ran to the gardens, running behind the taller trees and bushes for cover. The garden was huge, so he knew he had some distance to cover. He would have made it through, but a stray rock tripped him and sent him rolling.  
  
"AHHH!" Bobby yelled as his arm wound from the day at that he was at he mall was ripped open again. Blood soaked the bandage and he clutched it tightly, eyes watering.  
  
"Who's there?" Someone called.   
  
"Crap," Bobby whispered under his breath. He had been found...  
  
The bushed parted where he was and he saw two familiar faces...  
  
The first was Bethany, the girl with the power to freeze molecules. And the second was...  
  
"John?" Bobby whispered under his pain-coated throat.  
  
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Back inside the mansion, the destructive chaos was growing. Kitty Pryde woke up when a large crash was heard. She got out of her bed and ran strait through the door, using her power of walking through solid objects. At the end of the hall was a huge man, at least eight feet tall.  
  
"Who... who are you?" She asked with a nervous voice.  
  
"I'm the Blob," he said walking slowly forward.  
  
"Lea... leave me alone...," she whispered.  
  
He didn't listen to her and ran strait at her. The floor rumbled as he ran and she knew there was only one way to go... strait through him. So she concentrated her power and ran towards the Blob. She passed through his layers of fat, and kept running. She made it down a hallway with a secret elevator and she quickly opened and shut it.  
  
Memories of the last attack flashed through her mind. Last time she did this she was almost captured... but that wouldn't happen this time either... she wouldn't take it. When the elevator stopped, she opened it and a little and saw that it was clear enough to escape. She did and took to left turns and came to a dead end... this place was a maze at night.   
  
But at the dead end there was something more... there was a teenage girl, around 17, and a boy dressed in mostly silver. They were both looking down into the main hall where the main battle was taking place. They didn't notice her because of the lack of light, so she ducked down and hid in a shadow.  
  
"Let loose your power on this place, Scarlet Witch," the boy with a peculiar quick voice. "Hex this place to make the odds for us greater."  
  
"I'm on it," Scarlet Witch replied and held her hands up high in the air with a special gesture with her hands.  
  
A glowing light appeared and grew larger and larger, like a large sphere. It grew to be huge... It lit up the entire hallway so bright that even though Kitty was now visible, the light was to bright for anyone to not close their eyes.  
  
"This should be large enough for this entire place," she said, obviously concentrating.   
  
She then seemed to somehow, let it go and it flew into the main hall, and soon the mutants that inhabited the mansion were soon effected with a streak of misfortune.  
  
"No," Kitty whispered... and they heard her.  
  
"Stop!" The boy in silver clothes, Quicksilver, yelled, and Scarlet Witch prepared another hex-sphere. It was the size of a marble, and it gave them all a little light to see each other's faces better, but nowhere near as bright as the larger.  
  
Scarlet Witch threw it at her and Kitty used her power, hoping that it would pass through...  
  
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There he was... good 'ol John. The one person Bobby didn't want to lose. His only friend that would ever understand the pains of being a mutant... He was wearing the same leather jacket he always wore, and a little bump in his pocket revealing the same lighter he always carried.  
  
His face was the same. The same brown eyes... hr same brown hair smoothed back, but his bangs always managed to escape and hang down his face after a while. There he was... and what was Bobby going to say to him now that they were enemies?  
  
"Bobby," John exclaimed. "Get out of here!"  
  
"No," Bobby said, struggling to get up without using his wounded arm. "I'm not leaving without you."  
  
"What happened to you arm?" John asked stepping forward, reaching for Bobby's sleeve to pull it up and to get a better view of the long gash.  
  
Bobby pulled away though, "One of your 'new' friends gave it to me."  
  
"Who?" John asked angrily.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Bobby told him. "Just... come with me. We can both leave."  
  
"No," John told him. "This isn't where I belong anymore. It never was."  
  
"John!" Bobby yelled. "Please..."  
  
"Someone's coming, Pyro" warned Beth.  
  
"Freeze 'em," John told her, and she turned around and flicked her hand and whoever it was froze. She didn't have to look at this one to keep them freeze, she was able to turn around and keep on listening to the conversation.  
  
"John," Bobby exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm. "You can't just make me leave you. Don't you understand friendship?"  
  
"Sorry," John replied, not wanting to pull his arm away from his lost friend, but forcing himself to. "I can't come back... but... you can come with me."  
  
"No...," Bobby replied. "I can't do that. That would be trading against all the people I've met over the last two years. I won't be like you."  
  
Before John could reply to the harsh statement, the ground next to them opened up and another familiar face appeared from the Earth. The controller of plants and the Earth, Natura...  
  
"You've captured the pretty boy," she said, walking over to John. "Can I be the one to finish him off?"  
  
"No," John told her, but not breaking his gaze at Bobby. "But do me a favor."  
  
"What?" She asked with some interest.  
  
"Take him away from here. Take him somewhere where it is safe," he told her.  
  
"What? No way!" She said.  
  
"DO IT!" John yelled.   
  
"Whatever," she replied. "I'll take him to that run-down park."  
  
"Whatever, just make sure he's safe," John told her.  
  
She walked next to Bobby and placed her delicate hand with green fingernail on his arm. "I would hold your breath if I were you. I'm going to get a plant to help us out this time, but I can't assure how the spores will affect you."  
  
Bobby did as he was told, and took a deep breath. He was going to cooperate because he knew John would come back for another talk... and he would wait years to get John back with him... on the side of the good...  
  
A plant appeared under the two and it's petals closed over them and sucked them underground. When they would arrive at their destination, Bobby would wait... 


	9. Cold World

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 9  
Cold World  
  
Bobby sat on a park bench in the place where Natura had taken him. It was a cold place, and litter was abundant. Even though Bobby had the power of making ice, he wasn't completely immune to the cold. He could only really handle about 10 degrees more than an average person, so it didn't take much. All he had on was pajama bottoms and a navy short-sleeve shirt, so he wasn't the well off. He didn't even have shoes on. Natura just dropped him off and left. He wasn't sure if John was really going to come. Maybe he just told Bobby that so he would leave the grounds.  
  
Bobby had his arms wrapped around his chest in a tight grip and laid on the bench. It was so cold... A breeze picked up and Bobby became more miserable by the minute. He started to close his eyes... he wanted to shut them so bad... but what if he never woke up?  
  
He vision got blurry... and he saw someone familiar.   
  
"Rogue?" He whispered when he saw a blurred figure in front of him.  
  
"Bobby!" The figure in front of him yelled, and started to shake Bobby.  
  
Bobby's vision cleared and it wasn't Rogue... it was the person he wanted to see more at this time. John...  
  
"John?" Bobby asked, his eyes closing and shutting involuntarily.   
  
"Crap," John whispered when he touched Bobby's arm. "You're real cold, dude. Come on... stay awake."  
  
"It's cold," Bobby replied with a dry throat. "Cold..."  
  
"Here," John told him, taking off his leather jacket and handing putting it over Bobby. "Try and warm up. I'm going to get you where it's warm. Just don't go to sleep."  
  
"-kay," Bobby said lazily.  
  
"NATURA!" John yelled in the distance, out of Bobby's sight. "Come on! We've gotta go back to the house!"  
  
"We're taking him with us?" Said the girl who had snuck behind John. "I doubt that's wise."  
  
"He's going to die if we leave him out here, thanks to you," John said to her angrily. "Now we have to take him somewhere warm, now come on!"  
  
"Whatever," she replied, vainly.  
  
The two walked back over to Bobby and John picked him up with some difficulty. His grunts told Natura to hurry up and get going because he couldn't hold them much longer. Large petals sprouted under them and covered them. Its pollen glowed in the dark, giving them some light. The ride was a little awkward because John knew they were underground, but it was very quick.   
  
The petals lowered and sucked themselves back into the ground and leaving them in the front yard of a large three-story house. This is where John lived now... this is his new home away from Bobby and the others.  
  
"Magneto is gonna be ticked if he finds out we're hiding one of Xavier's brats," she told John.  
  
"He'll understand. I might be able to get him to join us," John said, walking to the door and entering the main hall. "Besides, he used to be my only friend, I can't just let him die."  
  
He walked into a living room area and set Bobby down on the couch. He reached a hand into the pocket of his jacket that was still warming Bobby and took out his lighter. He ignited a flame and sent it flying to the fireplace and made a large fire.   
  
"Is anyone here?" John asked.  
  
"No," Natura replied. "They're making a new headquarters in the mansion. I'm pretty sure a lot of us will be living there now."  
  
"I almost feel bad," John replied. "I used to live in that hell-hole. I knew allot of people in there. But nothing is fair in war. We have to make some sacrifices."  
  
"Do you think we can win?" Natura asked.  
  
"We've already got half of it done, all we need is to finish up some dirty work and our enemies will be demolished," John replied, looking down at Bobby. "Can you help me find some blankets, he pretty bummed out by the cold."  
  
She was about to come up with some smart reply, but the look John gave was pretty grave when he saw what she was about to do. She rolled her eyes and set off to finding some.  
  
"John?" Bobby voice whispered. "Come back home...".  
  
'Huh?" John asked, looking down. Bobby was dreaming.  
  
"Come on. We miss you," Bobby said, smiling in his sleep. "Didn't we mean anything to you?"  
  
John thought about this. Did Bobby mean anything to him? Sure, they were unofficially best friends, but did John really miss him? Did he miss Bobby, the boy with the ideal life and family. The Bobby whose parents would buy him anything because he was their "smart little baby". What about John? He didn't have anything like that. No family, no money, no happiness. He just lived a facade while he was at that stupid mansion. He was always pretending that he was something more important that everyone else, but in all reality he was nothing. He was just a criminal with a mutation. He could die and not be missed...  
  
Magneto had offered him everything. He called John a "God among Insects". How true was that? Normal people didn't deserve to live anymore. They can't see the gift mutants are. They just discriminate and kill them. But now all of this was going to stop. They were all going to die.  
  
"It's cold," Bobby whispered in his sleep. "Mom... it's cold."  
  
"Yeah," John told him. "It is a cold world out there. But maybe you'll get to know what it's really like." 


	10. Dirty

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 10  
Dirty  
  
The next morning Bobby woke up in a strange house. He was on a couch in what seemed to be a living room with a couple of blankets on top of him and a familiar jacket.  
  
"Morning," John's voice called to him. "Warmed up now?"  
  
"Yeah," Bobby replied, scratching the back of his head.  
  
"Can't you stand the cold weather?" John asked, flicking his lighter back and forth in his hand.  
  
"Sometimes," Bobby replied.  
  
"What do you mean 'sometimes'?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know how to control it. The professor is still teaching me," Bobby replied.   
  
"Why can't you learn for yourself?" John asked. "Why do you people always have to rely on him to teach you how to lives 'your' lives?"  
  
"John, it's not like th--," he started.  
  
"Yes it is!" John yelled. "Your better off without him."  
  
"Is that why you left?" Bobby asked. "Because you didn't want to follow rules? To be taught how to use your power?"  
  
"So?" John asked.  
  
"So!?" Bobby yelled. "So your now a reason why normal people want to kill us!"  
  
"Shut up...," John whispered.  
  
"You abuse your powers and all of us have to suffer for it!" Bobby yelled, standing up and throwing John's jacket on the floor.  
  
"SHUT UP!" John yelled, standing up walking up to Bobby. "You don't know what you're talking about!"  
  
"Sorry," Bobby replied, siting back down and realizing he wasn't being very grateful that he saved his life.  
  
"It's okay," John mumbled, also sitting back down.  
  
"Where am I?" Bobby asked, changing the subject.  
  
"This is where my group lives," John told him.  
  
"Your group?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Yeah," John told him. "My team. The ones Magneto put me with."  
  
"You mean there are more than one team?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Yeah," he replied.  
  
"Is... is the mansion destroyed?" Bobby asked.  
  
"No," John replied. "It's our new headquarters."  
  
"Did they-," Bobby started, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.  
  
"No, they didn't attack to kill, only to take over," John told him. "They will leave when they get what they want."  
  
"What do they want?" Bobby asked, hoping that this would give him an idea on who long it will take.  
  
"I don't know," John told him. "They will leave peacefully. We will need you in the future."  
  
"Need us?" Bobby sighed.  
  
"Your help," John told him. "You are our allies even though it might not seem like it."  
  
"When they leave...," Bobby said with a serious look in his eyes. "... will you come back?"  
  
"I don't know," John told him.  
  
"Please," Bobby told him. "Just give Xavier another try!"  
  
"I'll think about it," John told him.  
  
"So," Bobby said, starting another conversation. "What are you going to do with me?"  
  
"Make sure your safe until it's all over," John told him. "I owe you that much."  
  
"You owe me?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Yeah," John said smiling. "You gave me a lot when I was at the school."  
  
"Like what?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Your friendship for starters," he replied. "And you never gave up on me, even when I did some stupid crap."  
  
John gave a small laugh when he thought back on his and Bobby's past. He brushed a lock of hair behind his ear and continued his usual lighter routine. He had to go to the mansion pretty soon so that no suspicion arose, so he was contemplating on what he would do with Bobby. He might be able to bring him with him... he could pose as an inductee to the Brotherhood.  
  
John changed his mind's subject and realized how innocent Bobby still was. He had never known what it was like to be on the street by himself like John. John probably has a big police record and the cops were probably just begging for him to show his face. But Bobby was the good boy. John decided that all of his innocence had died long ago. He was dirty with sin and crime and he didn't know how to wash it away.  
  
It was a thick dirt. It came from roads of theft and mud-pits of other crimes. It was heavy, rank, and sometimes unbearable. He needed to wash it away... but with what?  
  
He never would have thought that Bobby would find the soap to cleanse his soul... 


	11. Revealed

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Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
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Chapter 11  
  
Revealed  
  
Bobby sat in the same room he was brought to while John told him he was going out to run some "errands", God only knew what that meant. He could be out right now killing innocents, because that's all they seemed to want to do. He had the television turned on and was flipping through the channels.   
  
The place the lived in was obviously not purchased by them. This seemed to be a place where the younger mutants lived, together. It was a lot more civilized that Bobby thought it would be. It was decently clean, and it was in one piece. But how they got their hands on such a large and seemingly isolated house was beyond Bobby.  
  
He was still flipping... nothing seemed to be on today. Just a couple of more flips until he would give up. He stopped on what seemed to be the news.   
  
"Great," he mumbled. "The news."  
  
He was about to turn the television off, but a familiar place appeared on the television. On the television was a picture of Xavier mansion!   
  
"It seems that explosions and attacks by mutants have taken place at this once overlooked mansion. This mansion, owned by Charles Xavier, has been identified as a harbor of younger mutants. We have been able to identify some of them, Bill," said the reporter to the anchor man.  
  
"Can you tell us, Susan?" Bill asked with phony voice.  
  
"Yes," she replied.  
  
"NO!" Bobby yelled, as they began to reveal the secrets that he and all of the mutants at Xavier's mansion hid as best they could.  
  
"First we have a girl named Marie D'Ancanto," she started, and a picture of Rogue appeared.   
  
They didn't reveal their powers, but just letting the public know they were mutants was beyond enough. The listing never seemed to stop.  
  
"Kitty Pryde... Scott Summers... Ororo Munroe... Charles Xavier... Jean Grey... Jubilation Lee...," she listed with pictures of each, and not only people from Xavier's institute were listed, but also those from the Brotherhood.  
  
Then list went on for a couple of minutes and then they finally got to two familiar people...  
  
"Robert Drake... St. John Allerdyce," and then it all seemed to black out.  
  
Bobby was discovered... he was truly found out. He probably couldn't walk outside without being attacked now.   
  
"So it's finally come...," said a voice from the entrance.   
  
It was John. He didn't seem phased at all. There was actually some form of a smile on his face.  
  
"What?" Bobby asked.  
  
"I knew it was coming, and it had finally happened," he said smiling. "Are you ready for the real world, Bobby?"  
  
Bobby stood up from the couch, furious.  
  
"What the hell is this all about!?" He yelled.  
  
"It's about letting those 'insects' that we wont take anymore shit from them!" John replied.  
  
"So you want to die? Is that it? You want them to track us down now that they know who we are and kill us!?" Bobby yelled.  
  
"They can track us down and try and kill us," John replied laughing. "They can try all they want but they will never win."  
  
"Take me back," Bobby growled.   
  
"Take you back where?" John asked.  
  
"Take me back home!" Bobby yelled.  
  
"Your home is now our leader's home, Robert," he sneered. "You're not going anywhere. He could kill you."  
  
"It's going to happen sooner or later," he replied. "I might as well die now. Take me."  
  
"No," John replied. "The answer is no. Get over it."  
  
"So I'm going to sit here for the rest of my life?" Bobby asked.  
  
"If that's what it takes to keep you safe, then yes," John said smiling.  
  
Bobby knew he was going to get out of their whether John liked it or not. He would wait until night and then make his escape... 


	12. Escape

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Escape  
  
Outside of the mansion where John's "group" lived, it was dark and foggy. Dew was dripping off the blades of grass and absorbed and stuck to the bottom of Bobby's bare feet as he ran as fast as he could. This was his only means of escape, and he could only pray that someone had not seen him by now. He knew how determined John was on keeping him safe in that place, but Bobby would rather be vulnerable out in the open, even if his identity was revealed.  
  
He dashed across until he came to a tall stone wall. He raised his hand and ice began to form from the moisture in the air. It made a slippery bridge that touched the ground at one point, and it made it to the top of the wall at the other. Bobby crawled up it, slipping obviously, but the dirt on his feet helped him crawl up. When he made it to the top, he lept off and landed on his hands and knees.  
  
He then followed a long path through a forest. It was thick and Bobby wasn't sure how far it would be until he actually made it to some kind of public area. He could be in the middle of Africa for all he knew. He had no way of contacting anyone that could help. His family probably wouldn't risk their safety for his anymore, and the X-Men couldn't help because they were dealing with an invasion at the mansion. All Bobby could do was run...  
  
He could start to smell something different in the forest, like a... city! He ran even faster, his legs throbbing for rest, but the only thing that made him stop was a sharp rock that jabbed into his bare foot. He fell to his knees and slid across the path. He fell on his arm that had the gash, and he experienced two horrible pains. He looked at his foot and saw the bloody hole that had been made. He pried his eyes away, knowing that thinking about it only made it worse and then rolled up his sleeve. The cut was looking weird. The skin around it was turning purple and he could see some traces of puss... it was infected.  
  
"Crap," Bobby moaned with pain. Why was all of this happening to him? He was already suffering enough, and these smaller pains were just adding up.  
  
He stood up, to see how he would walk with his injured foot. He looked down to see if everything else was ok, and it was. He now had holes in his pajama bottoms, but it was bearable. Bobby walked awkwardly forward for a few minutes and then tripped over his own feet. He tried to catch his balance by grabbing onto a bush, but it just made a whole bunch of noise and gave him a scratch on his plan.  
  
"WHO'S THERE?" Yelled someone from forest. "COME OUT!"  
  
Bobby staid low, and he saw a familiar face slip through the fog. Samira looked around frantically for the person who had made the noise, and drew out her knives. Another face appeared behind her... Bethany. Her white hair was put up in a ponytail, and her eyes locked with Bobby's.  
  
Samira started to float up into the air, using her power, but then stopped unnaturally. Bethany walked up to Bobby and looked down on his beaten body. She kicked off the white sneakers she was wearing and pushed them towards Bobby.  
  
"Go," she told him, and he reacted instantly. He graciously placed the shoes on his feet and stood up.   
  
"Thank you," Bobby whispered, not wanting Samira to spontaneously come back to life.  
  
"Just go," Bethany told him and turned around.  
  
Bobby limped his way further down the path, but this time with more ease since he had more protection around his foot. He finally made it to the end of the road and his eyes gazed on what seemed to be a city. He knew exactly where he was... he was close to the mall where he had received his wound. He limped his way to it and walked through the parking lot and to one of the many entrances. He pressed his face against the window and peered inside. Inside was something unusual... three figures were walking around inside with flashlights... the flashlight shined in Bobby's direction, through the window.  
  
Bobby knew he was in trouble...  
  
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John walked up two flights of stairs until he came to the third floor. He had shown Bobby to a room on this floor where he would least likely be able to escape. He walked to the door and put one hand on the door knob and the other on the molding around the door. He turned they handle and gave a small push... but the door wouldn't budge. He gave a harder push, and still the door didn't budge. He then slammed his shoulder against the door and the door once again was prevented from opening. He backed off and took a good look at the door. He didn't know what was keeping him from getting inside the room... except... there was water running down the door.  
  
"He froze it," John mumbled and pulled out his lighter. He ignited it and then used his power to sense the fires presence. He let out his other hand and the flame left the lighter and made it to his hand. He put the lighter in his pocket and stepped back. He shot it forward and made a rectangular fire line around the door and more water came pouring out. After about three minutes of thawing the ice on the other side, he made the flame the size of a dime and moved it away from the door. He then walked forward, making sure the flame didn't go out incase there was need for more thawing, and tried opening the door.  
  
It opened, and John let the fire behind him go out. He walked inside, making his entrance.  
  
"Nice try but...," he started... but there was no one in the room.  
  
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An arm reached clear through the glass, not even breaking it, and grabbed Bobby's shirt and pulled him through. Bobby landed on his knees and he expected to hear shattered shards of glass falling behind him... but there wasn't.  
  
"Are you okay?" Asked a girls voice, and Bobby looked up to see the eyes of Kitty Pryde.   
  
"Kitty!" Bobby said, standing up, flinching a little because of his bad foot.  
  
He saw the other two figures standing beside Kitty. There was Scott Summers and... Rogue...  
  
"How did you get here?" Bobby asked, peeling his eyes off of Rogue.  
  
"We managed to escape whenever they first attacked thanks to Kitty's power," Scott replied, putting a hand on Kitty's shoulder.  
  
"We have to find somewhere safe to hide," Rogue told them. "We can't just stay here out in the open and expect not to be seen."  
  
"Your right," Scott told here. "Let's try to find some place underground."  
  
"I hope you don't mean the sewers...," Bobby moaned.  
  
Scott just gave a small grin. Bobby hadn't seen him smile since Jean died... but he guessed that no one can stay depressed forever. 


	13. Battle

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Battle  
  
The four X-Men walked around in the shadows. They were still in the mall and nearing the food court, where there problems had started. They were all wearing the clothes they slept in at night since they attack had taken place at night. Scott's shirt had large holes in it, revealing that he had battled a little at the mansion.  
  
"You think we could find some change of clothes?" Rogues asked, revealing that she wasn't sufficiently covered for their protection. She had a lot of skin out in the open that if someone brushed against, they would be drained.  
  
"That's stealing!" Scott told her. "If we steal and get caught, then once again mutants will have a foul name branded on us."  
  
"But...," Rogue started.  
  
"The answer is no, Rogue," Scott interrupted.   
  
"So we can't go back to the mansion?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Not unless you want to be captured like the rest," Scott replied.  
  
"So what are we going to do?" Bobby asked.  
  
"We're going to have to find help," Scott told them.  
  
"And where are we going to find people who will help mutants?" Rogue mumbled.  
  
"Other mutants," Scott told her.  
  
"And can you give us any more specifics?" Kitty asked. "Like who and where they are?"  
  
"Not right now," Scott told her. "I'm not quite sure myself."  
  
A sudden crash came from a large glass window on the roof and a few familiar faces flew done with the help of Samira.  
  
"So we get another chance to finish this, preppy boy," said Natura, stepping forward and crossing her arms.   
  
"Why do you want to fight?" Bobby asked. "I didn't do anything to you except protect myself."  
  
"Whatever," she replied, running her fingers through her hair. "All I can say is that your going to pay for what you did for whatever reason."  
  
"All we need to do is capture them, not kill them," said a boys voice from the shadows.  
  
It was John who walked out, igniting and putting out his lighter. It was a compulsion for him. It was his symbol for power and it gave him confidence.  
  
"Grab one of 'em and stun 'em, Bryan," John told him.  
  
Bryan stepped out from behind him, his green eyes filled with fear, and he took off his gloves.  
  
"Watch out for him!" Bobby told them, getting into a fighting position. "He can kill you with his touch."  
  
"Someone like me?" Rogue asked.  
  
"No," Scott told her. "He will scramble your brain."  
  
Scott moved his hand to his visor and fired an optic blat at Samira, since she was starting to draw out her knives.  
  
"Shit!" She yelled, flying backwards and hitting a table.  
  
"I got him!" Natura yelled, running forward and raising her hand. She blew on it and green spores flew from her hand and at Scott.  
  
Scott tried to hold his breath, but some of it made its way into his lungs and he immediately was knocked out. Bobby sent an ice stream flying towards Bryan, who was nearing Kitty, hands outstretched. It was nearing contact... but then a stream of fire countered it.  
  
Bryan panicked and jumped at Kitty, trying to take her down. But Kitty phased and he went right through her. She sighed with relief that she phased just in time, but Bryan lashed out a hand and grabbed her ankle.   
  
"AHHHH!" Kitty yelled and fell flat on her back. They didn't know if she was unconscious or dead... they could only pray while they fought. Now it was just Rogue and Bobby. But Bobby couldn't see Rogue.  
  
Natura started to walk towards Bobby. She gave him an evil smile.  
  
"I'm going to enjoy this," she told Bobby and slowly raised her hand to her face.  
  
She was about to blow, but a hand lashed out and touched her neck. Nautra inhaled deeply and the veins on her body began to rise and from her skin.   
  
"Uh... ah...," she gasped, and then the hand removed its place on her neck and Natura collapsed on the ground. It was the hand of Rogue.  
  
Rogue quickly turned and looked at one of the plants that was bye a water fountain in the food court. She raised a hand and the plant started to change. It grew to a larger version of itself and vines suddenly shot from its oversized stem. They looped and lashed through the air and grabbed hold of Bryan and pulled him up into the air. Another vine went straight for Samira, he was sprawled on the ground still because of Scott's blast. A final one flew to John, he tired to fend it off with his fire, but Bobby let his ice simmer it down.  
  
It was done... the X-Men had won the battle. Bobby walked up to John, he was still tightly constricted by the vines and Bobby just smiled.  
  
"Now we can discuss things my way." 


	14. Humanities Enemy

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Humanities Enemy  
  
"You don't know what you're doing," John growled.  
  
"I think I do," Bobby replied. "I like to call it 'saving my own neck'."  
  
"Let me go!" John yelled, trying to break through the vines.  
  
"No," Bobby replied. "Not until you tell me what's going on."  
  
"I... I can't," John told him.  
  
Rogue walked to John, not having to concentrate on the plant anymore. She reached to his jacket and into the pocket. She pulled out his Zippo lighter and walked back with it.  
  
"Maybe this would help convince him," Rogue replied.   
  
Bobby tried not to think about Rogue, since he didn't know why she was mad at him in the first place.  
  
"Give that back!" John yelled.  
  
"Not until you tell us what's going on!" Bobby told him, getting annoyed.  
  
"Shit," John mumbled. "Okay. I'll tell you what I know..."  
  
"I'm listening," Bobby told him.   
  
"Magneto wants to use Cerebro to find someone," John told him.  
  
"Who?" Bobby asked.  
  
"I don't know," John replied. "All I know is that he needs there help..."  
  
"Is that it?" Bobby asked. "That's all he wants from the mansion?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied. "All he needs is for Xavier to cooperate and then he's gonna leave."  
  
"Okay," Bobby replied, knowing that there was something John was keeping from them.  
  
"Let him go," Bobby told Rogue.  
  
"I don't believe him," Rogue replied, opening the lighter. "I say we destroy this."  
  
Bobby looked over at her and saw that her thumb was toying with the starter. Just one spark would give John the power...  
  
"NO!" Bobby yelled, but she spun the starter and a flame popped up and an evil smile appeared on John's crimson lips...  
  
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Bobby looked around the strange place he was in. It was obviously a church... and candles covered almost every inch of the floor and pews. It was creepy and Bobby was all alone on the ground... except...  
  
Except for a wooden cross in front of the alter... On the wooden cross was John. He was still and his head hung low and his shirt stripped off him. All he had on was a pair of turn jeans that looked like they had been through hell. There were burn marks and slashes in them... and God only knows what else.  
  
On John's chest and stomach were cuts that were recently sliced, and there was rows of holes that looked like nails that dig into his skin. And on John's face were trails of the tears he shed from all the fear and pain that he had undergone.  
  
He was tied to the cross with barbed wire. Blood dripped from his arms and his feet and puddle had already formed underneath the cross. The only difference between John and Jesus at that point was that John had no crown of thorns on his head.  
  
Bobby knew deep down that normal people had done this to John. They didn't accept John or any other mutants... they were all doomed to die by the hands of the normal, and Bobby couldn't think of anything to do about it.  
  
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Bobby woke up in fear... sweat covered his entire body and his he was extremely cold again. He breathed heavily and looked around the room for anything familiar... anything that he could feel safe around.  
  
It was all a dream... but he knew the dream would somehow become reality...  
  
A/N: Sorry about the short chapters, but this is finals week so I'm stuck studying until then. Thursday is my last two finals, so then I can pick up the pace because school will be over ;) 


	15. Psychic Friend

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 15  
  
Psychic Friend  
  
Bobby was in a bed with white sheets, and white curtains that sorounded him with a sqaure shape. He looked down to see his pajamas and shirt still in one piece, but burn marks were visible. His injured foot and arm were newly bandaged, and he had a splitting headache. He got out of the bed and walked to one of the curtains. He found the end of the curatin and slowly pulled it open. Another hand lashed out and pulled the curtain open/  
  
It was a woman dressed in scrubs and was carrying a clipboard. SHe was obviously a nurse and she didn't look to happy that Bobby was out of bed.  
  
"What are you doing out of bed, sir?" She asked annoyed. "Please get back into bed."  
  
"Where am I?" Bobby asked.  
  
"You're in the hospital, sir," she replied grabbing his arm and leading him back to the bed. "The doctor will be with you shortly, sir."  
  
"Why am I here?" Bobby asked again.  
  
"The doctors will answer all of those questions, sir," she replied with her annoying voice. "Just get back in bed until then, sir."  
  
She nearly pushed Bobby back into bed and pulled the curtain shut again. Bobby raised an eyebrow and decided to lay back. There was a reasonable answer to all of this, he knew it. But what could it be?  
  
"GAHHH!" Bobby hissed when a sharp pain ran down his back.   
  
He lifted up his shirt when the pain stopped throbbing to see another bandage down his back. He wasn't sure if he had been burned, cut, or what. But lately he seemed to be the one for injury. He had a total of three now, and they probably weren't his last. Bobby decided to just sit up in his bed, like he woke up.  
  
Sooner or later someone pulled open the curtain. A woman with dark hair... so dark, yet seemingly purple hair walked in. She was very beautiful, but Bobby could tell there was something different about her. She was to... confident about entering. She didn't have to search for anything; she just seemed to know where every paper or machine in the little space was located.   
  
"How are you feeling?" She asked Bobby, smiling. "You got quite a burn on your back."  
  
"Why am I here?" Bobby asked.  
  
"They found you and another girl in the mall with some burns on you," she told him. "The girl escaped though. She seemed to be able to walk through walls. She was obviously a mutant."  
  
"Kitty," Bobby whispered to himself.  
  
"And you," the woman asked. "Are you a mutant?"  
  
"Just... just let me go," Bobby told her. "I want to leave. Now."  
  
"Not until you answer the question," she told him.  
  
"What if I am?" Bobby asked her. "What will you do then? Turn me into the cops? Kill me?"  
  
"No," she replied. "I would help you."  
  
"Help me what?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Get out of this place," she replied smiling.  
  
"Who are you?" Bobby asked.  
  
"People here call me Doctor Braddock," she replied. "But you can call me Psylocke."  
  
"Excuse me?" Bobby questioned, not quite comprehending what she was saying.  
  
"Psylocke is my code name," she replied, setting her clipboard down.  
  
"Is this some kind of hospital system to test our sanity or something?" Bobby asked her.  
  
"No," she sighed, wondering why he wasn't catching on. "I'm a mutant also."  
  
"Huh?" Bobby replied... trying to pretend he didnt know what she was talking about.  
  
"Don't try and play dumb," she told him, taking a peek outside the curtains to see if anyone was coming. "I saw your face on the news. Your face isn't one that one could forget easily."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing," she replied turning around. "I was just trying to give you a compliment."  
  
"Thanks... I guess," replying to her comment. "So... what's your power?"  
  
"Psychic abilities," she replied. "And that's what's going to get you out of here."  
  
"Meaning?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Meaning that I've mentally contacted one of your friends to come to your rescue, to put in simple terms," she told him.  
  
"Who?" Bobby asked.  
  
"She goes by the name of Bethany," she told Bobby. "She assured me her powers were sufficient enough for her to get you in and out unnoticed."  
  
"You can't!" Bobby pleaded to her. "Then she'll take me right back to John!"  
  
"John?" Psylocke asked.  
  
"It's a long story, but all you need to know is that I can't go back," Bobby pleaded.  
  
"She assured me your safety and you don't have any other options," she told him.  
  
"Do you know Charles Xavier," Bobby asked her.  
  
"Yes... he's and old friend," she replied, growing more interested.  
  
"Well his school for... people like us... was attacked and...," Bobby began to tell her.  
  
"I know," she replied, a little optimistically.   
  
"What? Aren't you going to do anything," Bobby asked her.  
  
"I said I was a mutant, I didn't say whose side I am on... or if I even was on one," she told him.   
  
"Are you even a real doctor?" Bobby asked.  
  
She shook her head no and began to reply, but she seemed to slow down and she was frozen. Bethany was there... Shortly the curtains opened once again and she was there.  
  
"You know the routine, Bobby," she told him with her monotone voice. "Let's go quickly. John isn't being to patient. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to you, you know?"  
  
Bobby knew there was no point in fighting back and stood up, minding his hurt foot. He was about to walk forward when Psylocke's hand lashed out and wrapped it's fingers around Bethany's neck. Bethany's eyes grew larger and one could tell she was trying to use her power to freeze Psylocke, but they weren't working.  
  
"You should know better than to try and use a psychic power on a psychic, girl," Psylocke told her. "Now tell me everything you know about the attack on the mansion. I'll know if you're lying and if I find out, you'll see how good my abilities can affect the mind."  
  
Bobby began to realize how much he liked Psylocke now that she was on his side... 


	16. Psy vs Psy

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path. (NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Psy vs. Psy  
  
Bethany's ice-cold eyes flashed into anger.   
  
"I thought I was supposed to pick him up?" She said, still in her usual monotone. "Have you changed your mind?"  
  
"Well, I've changed my mind," Psylocke told her and then tightened her grip. "Now talk."  
  
"I know just as much as he knows," Bethany replied, pointing to Bobby, inhaling hard.  
  
Psylocke thought briefly about this and then let loose of her throat.   
  
"She speaks the truth," she told Bobby. "Now go tell your "John" friend to leave this boy alone. I won't be hesitant to finish what I started next time we meet as enemies."  
  
"We'll get you," Bethany told her, massaging her neck and backing up slowly. "You will wish that you haven't messed with this boy."  
  
Bethany then disappeared into the curtains. Psylcoke then gave him a smile, but then it grew serious. "Now tell me what you know while I look you over."  
  
Bobby did so, and she asked questions and nodded while checking all of his wounds. She didn't seem to upset about any of them except for his arm. She called for a nurse and the nurse brought in some cleaning utilities and Psylocke proceeded to clean it.  
  
"After this I will give you a bandage on this cut and wrap your foot. They seemed to have already taken care of your back," she told him, beginning to bandage his arm wound. "You have to leave before they come back. Normally you wouldn't be out of this hospital for another three days under my care. But you're a special case."  
  
Bobby looked at her and smiled. "Um... Psylocke?"  
  
"Yes?" She replied, taking her attention of his foot wrap.  
  
"Are you planning on helping the other out at the mansion?" Bobby asked her, thinking her already knew the answer.  
  
"No," she told him, which greatly caught him by surprise.  
  
"Then why were you so interested in the mansion?" He asked her, looking dumbfounded.  
  
"I'm wanting to protect whatever mutant Magneto is after. Whatever he is going to use them for will surely cost them their life along with the normal humans on the planet. I am merely playing out my role," she told him.  
  
"Your role?" Bobby asked her.  
  
"I am doing this merely by concern of another," she replied Bobby was about to ask who this person was and Psylcoke stopped him before he could.  
  
"I can't provide you with any new clothes, so your old ones are right here," she told him, reaching under the bed and handing them to him. "Change and leave. Be careful. I'll keep a psionic watch on you."  
  
Bobby took his clothes gratefully, but didn't know how to react to her "watching" him. He felt secure though, he knew that she would come and help if he was in grate need. It was in her character that she portrayed so flamboyantly. She walked out of the small space shutting the curtain to give bobby privacy. Bobby carefully changed back into the torn up shirt and pajama bottoms he started out with. He slipped into the to-small-shoes that Bethany gave him. He opened the curtain to see that Psylocke hadn't waited for him. Bobby then just causally left the hospital so know one would suspect, even though it was quite hard given his current attire. 


	17. Greener Pastures

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 17  
  
Greener Pastures  
  
Out on the streets... the last place Bobby ever expected to be in his life. He had never had the sense of not being safe, or vulnerable. Back in the days where he actually   
  
lived a normal life at home, he already knew what he was going to do. At this point in his life Bobby was coming closer and closer to graduating. Bobby was going to attend   
  
a four-year university and major in some type of medical study. Maybe he would be a pediatrician because he liked kids. His grandfather had owned a large chain of box   
  
companies and when he died he gave it to Bobby's uncle. Bobby's dad had nothing to do with it because of some family fight a while back, but Uncle Pete had offered Bobby   
  
a job with a very generous pay as a part-time job while he was in college. But this was the old Bobby. The new Bobby couldn't even dream of these things.  
  
Uncle Pete wouldn't risk taking Bobby in because it could hurt his company, and business was business, right? So all Bobby could do now was walk. Walk... just walking.   
  
He felt the more he walked the further he got from his problems. But the second he stopped they all caught up with him and he had to start all over again. Finally the sun   
  
was being covered by random clouds in the sky. Dark clouds. Rain was coming. But where was he to go? That was probably the question of his life.  
  
Bobby walked a little faster towards an old sheltered bus stop. He was in the slums of the city and he wouldn't be very suspicious there. In fact he probably belonged there   
  
more than anything. The rain came soon enough. The rain brushed across the broken cement, and with the rain came the cold.   
  
It's a funny thing about Bobby's power. He remembered when some random student had the guts to ask him if it hurt when he summoned his claws, and he answered yes.   
  
Every time Bobby used his power, he had a pain. It wasn't physical, but more mental. The more he used it, the more he felt like a mutant, and the more his family disowns   
  
him. The pain that came was only natural.  
  
Now what was he to do? Try going back to the mansion? Find Kitty? Rogue? All these paths Bobby could take didn't appeal to him. Maybe... just maybe if he sat here he   
  
could think of another one... but was this what he wanted to do? Maybe if he sat here and waited... maybe it would find him. No... things just didn't happen like that   
  
anymore. Not for him. It seems like injustice... how he and all the other mutants in the world have to suffer from all the hate crimes given by the normal people... but maybe   
  
that is the mutant kind's purpose. To set an example. To show all the other different forces in the universe that the humans can wipe them out to.  
  
The wind picked up. What would Bobby give for the guidance of the Professor now? The Professor knew Bobby's powers more than he did. The Professor could teach Bobby   
  
how to resist the cold... to become one with the ice. But was that what he wanted? Maybe if he turned to ice, so would his heart. If his heart was ice... maybe all these   
  
demons that were haunting it would leave him alone for good.  
  
Bobby looked down to the ground and fixed his blue eyes on a little flower that had managed to break through the concrete... it had built its home in this trashy place.   
  
Maybe that was how the mutants would be... they would have to grow where they odds were against them. Bobby was about to pull his gaze and continue watching the rain,   
  
when something creeping under the same hole in the concrete as the flower. Was it a worm?  
  
Two green pieces of grass sprouted right underneath the flower... there was something wrong here. Bobby quickly started to stand, but the grass stretched from the whole,   
  
one aiming to Bobby's wrists, and the other to his ankles. They were abnormally long... they were being controlled somehow... who? His question was answered when a   
  
hand pushed him back onto the bench. Auburn hair with green streaks... it was Natura.  
  
"Gotcha again pretty boy," she said with her same sinister smile.  
  
"Let me go!" Bobby yelled, trying to break his bonds.  
  
"I don't think so," she told him. "I think you'll be staying right where you are."  
  
"Finally gonna kill me are you? Well hurry about and do it," Bobby told her, his face turning red from frustration.  
  
"Kill you? Oh I don't think so," she told him, sitting down next to him and crossing her legs. "We're going to wait. Besides you make it sound like you want to die or   
  
something."  
  
"Last time I checked I didn't have much to live for," he replied to her, scooting away.  
  
"It's sad to see our kind turn like you," Natura replied, turning her eyes to Bobby. "To give up on trying to give us freedom and run from their problems. Well, I'll tell you right   
  
now, from what I've seen, your pasture is way greener than my side. But, do you see me begging to die?"  
  
"You don't even know what your talking about," Bobby told her. "What do you know? From what I have understood, you have lived in luxury and I have to roam the streets.   
  
You have a home and I don't. You have people that you know are alive right now that care about you, and I don't."  
  
"That's what you think, huh?" She said to Bobby, and crossing her arms over her brown sweater. "Well you need to re-think all that you assume. John has told us about   
  
your life."  
  
"Huh?" Bobby asked her.  
  
"Yeah. You seem to be the ideal boy, huh? The smart one from a rich family? Crap... just a family is what sets you different from a lot of mutants. You probably had a   
  
future," Natura said while clenching her fingers around her arms tightly. "But now your living like the rest of us had to in the beginning. The table has turned and you're seeing   
  
what it's really like. Not so great is it? But lucky you... you at least got some years spent with a family."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Bobby replied, growing calmer. "Did you have a family?"  
  
"If you could call them that," she mumbled.  
  
"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is," Bobby told her. "You just probably expected to much from your Dad and M..."  
  
"Dad?" Natura yelled, interrupting Bobby and standing. "DAD? I didn't have a Dad! All I had was a drunk woman he hit me every time I cried... and three boys who had only   
  
knew me because I had the same DNA. That's ALL I had... My dad left my mom the moment he found out she was gonna have me... I don't even 'have' the same dad as my   
  
brothers. Is that would you would call a family?"  
  
"...No," Bobby whispered, lowering his eyes from the enraged Natura who was crying... not from sadness, but from rage.  
  
"But that's not why I left. I didn't have the guts back then. They kicked me out once they found out that I was a mutant," she said, looking at her gloved hands. "I couldn't   
  
control it then. Plants... spores... all of it just wouldn't stop. My brother grabbed the gun and called me freak. He cocked the gun and said I had ten seconds to run before he   
  
started shooting. I didn't even have time to get any of my things. All I got to take with me was a bullet right in my shoulder... That's when Magneto found me. I was dying...   
  
all the Earth where I was laying was withering... turning a dark brown... dead. He knew I was his kind, and he saved my life. He trained me. He... he is like my father. I would   
  
do anything for him. He saved my life when no one else gave a damn, and... and he introduced me to John... and Beth... and Bryan, and Samira. They are my family. The   
  
only one I ever had."  
  
"They aren't a family," Bobby said under his breath and kept his gaze to the ground.  
  
"Look at me!" Natura yelled, slapping his face. "Look at me! Took one hard look... do you see this. This body is here because of them. They took it in and nurtured it... and   
  
they didn't for anything in return... Don't tell me what a family is and isn't. Just go to hell! GO TO HELL!"  
  
"That's enough," said a voice from behind Natura. "Don't talk about it anymore. You get real upset... just don't."  
  
A hand came up and touched Natura's shoulder. Behind her was Samira, the Asian levitator.  
  
"I'm supposed to tell you to take Bobby back to the HQ," she told her. "This time make sure he doesn't escape."  
  
Bobby sighed... how much more of this running and fighting could he do? All these situations...  
  
"We'll go by flower," she told Samira, looking at her drenched clothes. "It's... drier."  
  
Samira reached to grab Bobby when a yellow flash knocked her hand aside and snapped back. "Let him go!"  
  
They look into the dark distance to see a boy, around eighteen, standing on top of a trashcan. He had tow long chains of yellow light clutched in his hands... like whips.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Asked Natura, readying herself to use her powers.  
  
"BLINK!" Yelled the boy. "Get him!"  
  
In a blink of an eye, a girl appeared right in front of Bobby. She had lavender-like skin... and pink markings on her face and glowing white eyes. She grabbed him roughly and in a flash... they weren't on the bench anymore... 


	18. Morlocks

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 18  
  
Morlocks  
  
Bobby was lying on the ground because the girl had dropped him. He looked up to see her holding a knife. Her eyes were not glowing white anymore, but the marks on her face remained. She walked towards him and held the knife above her head. Bobby squinted... expecting the worse when the knife came slicing down. But to his suprise, she was only cutting loose his bonds.  
  
"Get up," she told him.  
  
He did so and looked around him. They were in a sewer tunnel...  
  
"Follow me," she told him and started walking down it.  
  
"Where are we going?" He asked.  
  
"To my home," she replied to him, still having her gaze fixed ahead of her.  
  
"And that would be... in the sewer?" Bobby asked her, walking faster and trying to look into her face.  
  
"Is there a problem with that?" She asked, stopping and look him right in the eye.  
  
"Um... no," Bobby replied, deciding he shouldn't ask anymore questions.  
  
"Good," she told him.  
  
They continued walking down the tunnel, taking turns and twists. Bobby was on the right side of the tunnel, meaning he was right next to the sewage water. He peered into the green liquid and saw things floating in it he didn't care to know about. He noticed that the girl would occasionally look at him and then quickly turn back.  
  
"So... what's your name?" Bobby asked her.  
  
"Blink," she told him. "And yours?"  
  
"Bobby," he told her.  
  
"No... what is your 'real' name?" She asked him.  
  
"I... I guess it's Iceman. People back at the mansion called me Iceman," he told her.  
  
"Mansion?" She asked, looking at him. "Xavier's mansion?"  
  
"Yeah!" Bobby told her, hoping she would know something. "Do you know about it?"  
  
"No," she replied, causing him to frown. "But stop and listen to me. Before we go into my home, you most promise me for now you wont say that you are from there. Okay?"  
  
"Why not?" He asked her.  
  
"Let's just say we have a low tolerance for Xavier's people," she told him, and they continued walking.  
  
"Your people?" Bobby asked.   
  
"Yes. My people. The Morlocks," she replied as they came to a dead end.  
  
"Wrong turn?" He asked her, glancing at the wall.  
  
"No, I'm going to blink us through," she told him.   
  
"Oh...," Bobby said as he came to realization. "So you can teleport? Is that how I escaped?"  
  
"Yes," Blink told him and held out her hand. "Grab on and don't let go."  
  
"How come we didn't just Blink to the city in the first place?" Bobby asked her skeptically.  
  
"I didn't know if I could trust you until now," she told him.  
  
Bobby put his hand into hers and her eyes glowed a perfect white. Bobby blinked his eyes, and when they reopened, they weren't at the dead end anymore. They were in a huge underground city. Blink let go of his hand and walked forward. She turned to look at his awe-struck face.  
  
"Welcome to home," she told him. "You must come see out leader for permission to stay for as long as you need."  
  
"Leader?" Bobby asked. "You mean it's like a community down here?"  
  
She nodded and walked forward. This seemed to be a new pattern, so Bobby just followed. The walked up the huge tunnel and to a large door protected by two other mutants. One was huge and had body more like a pig than anything else. He held a large spear and grunted when he saw Bobby. The other was cloaked and Bobby couldn't tell what they looked like.   
  
"We're here to see Callisto," she told them.  
  
The opened the doors with their huge hands, and Blink and Bobby walked in. Inside the door was a long and narrow room. It was lit by torches and at the end sat a woman in a chair made of metal. Blink and Bobby made their way to the woman.  
  
"Have you brought another member?" The woman asked with a deep voice. She had a black eye-patch over her right eye.  
  
"No," Blink told her. "I have brought a mutant who was under attack. He is here to ask permission to stay as long as he requires it."  
  
"Move aside," she told Blink. "Let him speak for himself. Step forward. What's your name?"  
  
Bobby opened his mouth and was about to say Bobby, when Blink narrowed her eyes as a signal... he wasn't Bobby here. "Iceman."  
  
"Iceman...," she said under her breath. "Iceman, why were you being attacked?"  
  
"They wanted to capture me and... take me to their leader," Bobby replied, frantically trying to come up with a story to avoid the topic of Xavier and the mansion.  
  
"Why?" She asked him in her rough voice that demanded more than asked.  
  
"I don't know," Bobby replied.  
  
"Liar," she told him. "Now tell me why."  
  
"Because..." Bobby mumbled, his brain not cooperating with his mouth. "Because..."  
  
"NOW!" She yelled.  
  
"Because... Magneto...," he told her.  
  
"What does Magneto want with you?" She demanded.  
  
"My... my powers," he told her.  
  
She laughed. "Boy... what would Magneto need with 'your' powers? Maybe there is a hidden meaning in your name?"  
  
"No... I can make ice," he told her.  
  
"And what use is that to Magneto? Hmmm?" She asked, obviously humored.  
  
"I don't know...," he told her. "All I know is that his goons are out to get me."  
  
In a quick flash Callisto stood up and drew her spear. She quickly moved it to Bobby's throat.  
  
"Never... child... never," she growled. "Say goon again, or it will cost you your life. Now take him away Blink. He may stay until tomorrow night."  
  
"Yes ma'am," she replied, and roughly grabbed Bobby's arm.  
  
She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "Goon is what she was called on the streets. It's banned here."  
  
They were about to leave, when the doors ahead of them were opened for another set of people. A girl with glowing yellow ropes that bound her hands behind her back walked in. She was medium height, ragged clothes, and... two long white streaks as bangs. It was Rogue.  
  
Behind her was the boy who had lashed out at Samira back at the bus stop. Apparently his power was to release those kind of ropes from his body that bound Rogue.  
  
"We found her roaming the sewers. She is one of Xavier's brats," the boy yold her.  
  
"Good work Whipslash," Callisto told him and walked forward to Rogue. "Take her to the prison. Lock her up. We'll deal with her later."  
  
"Bobby!" Rogue yelled at him and Callisto quickly turned to look at him with a sly grin.  
  
"Ohh," she said to him. "So you would be another one of Xavier's brats. Take him away!"  
  
Whipslash lashed out another one of his whips from his hand and the yellow stream wrapped around Bobby's wrists and bound them together.  
  
"I can't believe I let that scum trick me into thinking he was a normal mutant," she said out loud and walked off to her throne again.  
  
Rogue's eyes met with Bobby's and she said, "Sorry, Bobby."  
  
They were then led out the narrow room and walked down flights of stairs that sent them further underground. They soon reached an empty jail-like structure, and Whipslash opened one of the doors and pushed both Rogue and Bobby in. He shut the door and locked it using a huge iron lock.  
  
"Later brats," he said and left.  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Back at John's Mansion  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Natura walked into the house where John was waiting.  
  
"Where is he?" John asked.  
  
"With the Morlocks," Natura replied. "They stole him when Samira arrived."  
  
"The Morlocks?" John asked her. "He's going to get himself killed."  
  
"Bethany was once a Morlock, right?" She asked.  
  
"Yes," John replied. "I almost was to. Before Xavier found me."  
  
"Samira is out patrolling for him," she told John. "She's thinking he might escape."  
  
"We're gonna have to go in and save his tail," John told her. "...again."  
  
"Yeah," she replied with a sigh. "This is getting old. Next time let's just lock him in the basement." 


	19. Arguments

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 19  
  
Arguments  
  
Bobby sat on the ground on one end of the cell, while Rogue sat on the pile of dirty blankets on the other. Even though Rogue wasn't on Bobby's list of favorite people, that still didn't prevent him from being the gentleman he was raised to be. Rogue kept fidgeting un-easily. Bobby knew she was never the kind of person who could stand uncomfortable silences.  
  
"I'm sorry Bobby," she told him, while looking at the ground. "I just did what had to be done."  
  
"Let's not talk about this now," Bobby replied to her. "Right now we should be worrying about our lives."  
  
"What wrong with you?" She asked him. "You're not the same. What's on your mind?"  
  
"Nothing," Bobby replied.  
  
"Tell me," she said, inching further off the blankets.   
  
"Hate to you give you a reality check but my life officially doesn't involve you," Bobby told her rolling his eyes. "Or did you forget you dumped me?"  
  
"Bobby," she whispered standing up. "You know it would have never worked out. After I broke up with you, I realized that what I felt wasn't real. I was..."  
  
"Was what?" Bobby demanded. "Using me? Leading me on? What!? Tell me!"  
  
"I was using you," she yelled back. "I admit it."  
  
"Using me for what?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Bobby," she whimpered. "You were the only boy in school who wasn't afraid of coming within two feet of me. I had to take what I could get. Anyone who would have me..."  
  
"Oh," Bobby replied sarcastically. "So I was the last resort?"  
  
"Look," she replied to him. "It was a mistake. Let's just put this behind us. Friends?"  
  
"No," he told her. "No... We can't be friends."  
  
"Fine," she yelled and sat back on her blankets.  
  
"Fine!" He yelled back.  
  
The uncomfortable silence came back. The dripping of water from the ceiling was the only noise that kept them both from going insane.   
  
"It's him isn't it?" She asked him.  
  
"Who?" Bobby asked.  
  
"You know who," she snapped back. "Your best buddy-'ol-pal, John."  
  
"Listen... there is a lot that you don't know...," he started but...  
  
"No! You listen! There is a lot that you don't know about John," she told him.  
  
"What do you mean?" Bobby asked in an annoyed tone, wondering if she was just trying to find ground for argument.  
  
"Remember back in Boston, at your place? John was attacking all those police with his power. I had to stop so I touched him and made all the fire go away," she started. "And when I touch people I get some of their memories..."  
  
"What did you find out?" Bobby asked.  
  
"It's not my story to tell. Let's just say that John has reasons for being the way he is," she told him turning her back. "His life hasn't been as easy as yours."  
  
"What the hell?" Bobby yelled standing and putting his hands on the sides of his head. "All I've been hearing from everybody is how 'easy my life is'!"  
  
"What would you expect?" Rogue replied. "You have."  
  
"Please," Bobby replied. "If I recall correctly, you ran away from home while I had to 'lie' to my family for two years. Then after they find out my brother turns me in and my parents all of a sudden have nothing to do with me! Does that sound easy to you?"  
  
"No...," she told him.  
  
"Exactly, so don't tell me about my life!" Bobby yelled and turned his back to her.  
  
"Well, I can tell you some things about your life," she whispered. "Remember the kiss? I got to kiss a boy again... and I got to peek into his life."  
  
"Shut-up," Bobby said lowly.  
  
"I saw one of your favorite memories," she replied. "The time when you got that go-cart you begged your dad for."  
  
"Shut-up," Bobby replied a little louder.  
  
"And then you wrecked it into a tree," she replied with a little chuckles. "You named it... it was... uh..."  
  
"Stinger...," Bobby said to himself.  
  
"And...," she started again, her face getting darker. "Then your dad got real up-set and then he..."   
  
"SHUT-UP!" He told her. "JUST SHUT..UP!"  
  
"Whatever you say," she replied calmly, but then finished her train of thought. "... and that was the last time you looked at your dad as a hero."  
  
Bobby put his fists against the wall above his head. It was true. His dad spanked him for the first time. It was a strange thing. His dad was always this model father to him... someone he looked up to... and then after a stupid accident his father went off on him. It never happened again of course, but for some unknown reason Bobby just didn't look at his dad the same. Could someone who could punish him like that truly love him? Maybe he was just spoiled after all...  
  
But that was in the past. They don't matter anymore. He promised to himself this was the last time he would ever give them a thought. They were done. They were close to not being there anymore to him. He didn't need them. He just needed the new 'family' he had back at the mansion together again... and he needed his run-away brother to come home... 


	20. Farewell

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 20  
  
Farewell  
  
Drip... Drop  
  
Drip... Drop  
  
The only sound that filled the small cell was that. The dripping of water from above. It had at least three hours since Rogue and Bobby had their argument. She had fallen asleep on the blankets. She seemed to turn a lot in her sleep. She had a worried look on her face that just didn't go away.  
  
"Mommy...," she whispered. "No..."  
  
What was she talking about? That was the true question right now. Her hands were doing something weird. She seemed to be holding something that wasn't there... and she was miming opening it... seemingly stroking it with one snap of her thumb, and then slapping whatever shut with the other hand. It was like... like... a lighter. She was John... she told him she had gained his memories from people she touched. Maybe these memories were more. Maybe they became part of her. Maybe she was officially these people. These people... so was there still a Rogue?  
  
"Rogue?" Bobby whispered. "Wake up."  
  
She didn't.  
  
"Rogue!" Bobby replied shaking her. "C'mon. Wake up."  
  
Her eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly, breathing deeply. She looked at Bobby and frowned.  
  
"Trying to do something?" She asked.  
  
"No," Bobby replied, and he was about to start asking her questions, but he chose not to. She would probably deny it.  
  
Bobby stood up and walked to the opposite wall again. It was his new place. He was about to sit down again when there was a tap at the iron bars. Bobby turned to see Blink.  
  
"Blink!" Bobby whispered. "Are you going to get us out?"  
  
"No," she replied. "I... I can't."  
  
"Why not?" Bobby asked, grabbing onto the iron bars between them.  
  
"Callisto will know it's me and who knows what she would do to me," she replied.  
  
"So...," Bobby asked her. "What will they do to us?"  
  
"I don't know," she replied. "The last people they captured that Callisto didn't approve of disappeared. We're not sure if she wiped them out or if they escaped."  
  
Bobby turned and leaned his back on the iron bars. Was he going to die?  
  
Rogue looked worried as well. She was still sitting on the blankets. Then it hit him... Bobby had an idea.  
  
"Hey, can you take her?" Bobby asked, turning and facing Blink.  
  
"I already told you, she wou...," she started,  
  
"No, listen!" Bobby interrupted. "She doesn't know what Rogue's power is. So... we could...," but this time Blink interrupted him.  
  
"... lie and say that she could let herself out of the cell!" She replied smiling. "But what would we say?"  
  
"We can't say she can pass through walls or teleport, or she would have escaped earlier," he told her.  
  
"We can tell them I can turn into animals! And then say I turned into a fly or something and escaped!" Rogue replied, running to the bars happily.  
  
"And then Blink, you come back and demand to know where I am, and report Rogue missing and stuff," Bobby said, adding on to the idea pool.   
  
"Wouldn't that look suspicious?" Blink asked.  
  
"Not...," Bobby replied hesitantly. "Not if you use violence."  
  
"If that's what you want," Blink replied. "Let's go."  
  
She blinked through the bars.  
  
"What about Bobby's alibi?" Rogue asked.  
  
"I'm not coming," Bobby told her.  
  
"No way," she told them, backing away from Blink. "I'm not leaving you."  
  
"It'll be okay," he told her. "I'll be fine. I'll get out."  
  
"C'mon," Blink told her holding out her hand. "We don't have long."  
  
Rogue was hesitant, but she complied. She reached for Blink's hand with her gloved one, but stopped right before they made touch.  
  
"Bobby," she called. "One more thing. Leave John alone. I don't know most of the details... but I don't think you should get mixed with that."  
  
Blink made the contact because she was in a hurry, and in a blink, they were gone. Now all Bobby had to do was wait... but for what. He didn't know. 


	21. Destiny Calls

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 21  
  
Destiny Calls  
  
In a small county near New York, there sat an old house on a hill. An old blind woman lived on it, by herself. She had the boy at the grocery store deliver her required items and had no other visitors. Well... none that she didn't know about.  
  
The woman was sitting in her attic in front of a large glass window. The cool air at the top of the attic always helped her think, and that is what she needed to wield her power accurately. The attic door opened without a sound and inside walked a shadow.   
  
"I've been waiting a year," Irene Adler said from her creaking rocking chair. "...Mystique."  
  
The blue-skinned woman walked in front of the blind woman and stood in front of her, initiating a conversation.  
  
"I need a favor from you Irene," she told her in her mutant voice. "My apologies... I meant to call you...Destiny."  
  
"What would you like to know?" Irene asked her, with an old laugh.  
  
"I think you already know," Mystique replied, crossing her arms.  
  
"If I told you everything you wanted to know, then what would be in the fun of living?" She asked.  
  
"Well can you tell me anything?" Mystique asked. "Magneto grows impatient."  
  
Destiny brought and shriveled hand to her forehead and thought for no more than thirty seconds.  
  
"Death...," she said loud.  
  
"Who?" Mystique asked, lowering herself to her knees as if she was a child, listening to a bedtime story.  
  
"A mutant," she replied. "A mutant who dwells into the realm of the Morlocks."  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
They were walking... walking... walking fast. The five of them walking... searching. They came to a dead end.  
  
"Crap," said a tall Asian girl. Samira.  
  
"This is the third dead end," John told them angrily. "How the hell are we going to find them?"  
  
"Don't ask me," replied Natura. "If there base was above ground it would be easier. I could just sense them. But there is all this concrete in the way..."  
  
"I don't see what freezing would help," added Bethany, who remained in the back of the group with Bryan.  
  
"Crap...," replied John.  
  
They were all startled by a sudden appearance of two girls appearing in front of them. Blink and Rogue.  
  
"John?" Rogue called. "Is that you?"  
  
"Rogue," John mumbled unimpressed. "I don't have time for this."  
  
"What are you doing here?" Asked the lavender skinned Blink.  
  
"I bet there here to save Bobby!" Replied Rogue.   
  
"Come with me," Blink told them holding out a hand.  
  
"Whoa, whoa!" John said out loud, throwing his hands up and a 'wait' signal. "What the hell is going on? How do I know I can trust you?"  
  
"John," Rogue yelled. "We don't have time for paranoia. You and... And whoever these people are need to go get him out before they kill him!"  
  
"And that's what I came here for," John growled. "And if it were that simple I would have gotten him out by now."  
  
"Just trust me, okay?" Blink told them stepping forward. "I can take you there. I can't help you get him out, but I can get you there."  
  
Blink walked forward to the dead end and stood there... her hand outstretched and she seemed to be concentrating. A small long dart-like energy bolt appeared in front of her. She clutched it and flung at the dead end. A huge purple colored portal appeared. She turned to them, seemingly worn out.  
  
"Go," she told them. "Before it goes out."  
  
"No way!" Natura yelled. "For all we know that will take us out in space or something."  
  
"Ugh!" Rogues spat in disgust. "I'll go first. Just hurry! Okay?"  
  
Rogue walked up to it and jumped in. John watched this and then looked at the others questioningly.  
  
"Let's go," Samira told them and she took the lead by jumping in first. The others followed.  
  
On the other side they were in a damp dungeon-like place. Cells were lined against both sides of the wall. But only one was occupied.  
  
There lay a pathetic looking boy, clothes torn, to-small-shoes, just laying on a pile of blankets in the corner. John smiled. Finally they made it to him.  
  
"Wake up sunshine," John said mockingly, hitting the iron bars with his lighter that had been affectionately placed in his palm.  
  
"John?" Bobby called out. "What... how?"  
  
"Just shut-up, 'kay?" John told him, opening and igniting his lighter. "Your the reason we're in this mess."  
  
After his last sentence, John let out his mental sensors and he found his flame. It was his for the molding now. He made the heat of the fire go up intensely and when it was satisfactory he molded its shape. He turned into a large circle and let it rest right above his palm. With a quick pull back and thrust of his arm the sphere of fire glided to the lock of the cell and it melted fast. When it fell to the ground, John put the fire out. He walked up to the door and opened and did a little bow with his arm giving Bobby passage.  
  
Bobby rolled his eyes and walked out. He may be on the other side now, but John still hasn't changed. They both gave each other a small smirk out of humor.  
  
"Ummm, this is great and all guys," Natura started and walked in between the two. "But how exactly are we going to get out?" 


	22. Destiny Never Lies

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 22  
  
Destiny Never Lies  
  
They were all in the main part of the sewer-city, looking frantically for an exit.  
  
"OVER THERE!" Yelled a mutant from atop a small building. "INTRUD-!"  
  
He was interrupted by the hand of Bethany who froze him. She didn't change her emotion at all. She never did...  
  
"We're caught," mumbled Bryan who has kept silent most of the time.  
  
"Why did he have to come along anyway?" Ask Natura. "He can't do anything to help."  
  
"Let's not worry about that now," Samira growled. "We need to find a way out."  
  
The searched more...  
  
"LOOK!" Rogue yelled, pointing up.   
  
She had found it. A hole in the wall above that had a small a mount of light shining through.   
  
"Samira," John ordered. "Start taking 'em up."  
  
She complied by grabbing Rogue by the glove and Bryan by the hood of his jacket and jumped into the air.  
  
"I see you found your way out," said the voice of the mighty Callisto from the door to her throne room. "But you won't leave so easily."  
  
She held her spear with both hands and had a blood thirsty look on her scarred face. Bobby threw his hand forward and shot a stream of ice at her. She dodged it and leapt towards them. She landed a few meters away and thrusted herself forward, but she was stopped by something bright. Something like lightning.  
  
Up above in the hole was Ms. Munroe. Storm. She jumped down and slowly fell with help from wind that she summoned to carry her.  
  
"Ms Munroe?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Not now Bobby," she told him. "Escape."  
  
He turned to see deformed mutants gathering around the entire city in a large circle. They weren't here to watch.  
  
Bobby looked at the remaining mutants. Samira had already came back and managed to get Bethany and Natura. It was just Bobby and John left.  
  
"Wanna fight?" John asked him, giving a glance to some nearby mutants.   
  
"We have to hold them off until Samira can come for us," Bobby told him, and then readied his hands.  
  
He called his mutant power, sensing all the water molecules in the air. With one quick flick of his hand a thick chunk of ice shot out of his hand and it a mutant, pinning him to the ground. John had taken a more violent approach by shooting streams of fire at mutants, knocking them back. Storm was... she was fighting Callisto.  
  
Callisto had thrown her a weapon. A spear, and they were battling it out.  
  
A hand grabbed the back of Bobby's shirt. He looked up to see Samira, very tired at this point. She had another hand latched onto Johns arm. She then lifted them into the air. Bobby got to sense the feeling of flying first hand. It was like when she touched something they lost all their weight. She wasn't tired form carrying them; she was tired from having to concentrate so hard while dodging weapons flying at her. They made it to the huge hole that led to the outside world.  
  
They were in a playground. It was abandoned, but the slides and swings were still there even if they were torn up. John grabbed onto Bobby and pulled him.  
  
"C'mon," he told Bobby. "You're not going anywhere this time."  
  
"What about Storm?" Bobby asked worried.  
  
"She can handle herself, right?" John told him mockingly. "She's a n X-man after all."  
  
"But...," Bobby started to say, but Natura interrupted.  
  
"WATCH OUT!" She screamed.  
  
For what? Well they soon found out by the sound of a shooting gun and a huge explosion of fire. After that Bobby blacked out...  
  
The scream of someone... someone... dying... were heard. Was it him? John? He couldn't tell because the blast hit him so hard. He couldn't feel anything.  
  
But... Destiny never lies. 


	23. Waking Up

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 23  
  
Waking Up  
  
Waking up... it's a curious thing. You never know exactly what you will see when you open your eyes. In this case, Bobby woke up to something he didn't expect. The   
  
smiling face of Storm. But it was not only the face of Storm that he didn't expect to see, it was the fact that they were under the mansion in the medical sector underneath   
  
the mansion.  
  
"Good Morning Bobby," Ms Munroe said to the waking boy with her normal hint of African in her voice. "I trust you slept well?"  
  
"Ms Munroe...," Bobby whispered. "Are we... are we in the mansion?"   
  
She nodded with a smile. "They intruders left a couple of days ago. That's when we made out search for you and found you and Rogue in the Morlock realm."  
  
"So...," Bobby started. "So... the mansion is safe again?"  
  
"Yes," Storm replied.  
  
Bobby laughed in true happiness and leapt forward and hugged his teacher. She laughed and returned the hug. Home... it's a wonderful feeling when your there. Their laughing   
  
stopped when Bobby whispered something...  
  
"Callisto," he whispered and the pulled back from the hug and asked his teacher a question. "Is Callisto... did you?"  
  
"No," Storm replied. "Let's just say I gave her quite a shock."  
  
"And everyone is safe?" Bobby asked, smiling. Things were turning out pretty good for him. Except for the sudden frown on Storm's face.  
  
"That is what we need to talk about," she told Bobby, placing her hand on top of his. "There was a casualty."  
  
"Who?" Bobby asked, frightened.  
  
What if it was John?  
  
"The rest escaped I assume, leaving his body behind," she started again.  
  
'Oh God,' Bobby said in his head. HE. John... he's dead. He's gone... his friend... dead. Death. It's so... so... scary. But why John?  
  
His thoughts were unbearably jumbled.  
  
"Bryan was killed. A stray piece of metal from one of the playground equipments was blown in the explosion and impaled him," she told him.  
  
"You mean, John's safe?" Bobby asked, feeling bad that he has ignored the fact that Bryan had died.   
  
"As far as I am aware," she reassured him. "...John is safe."  
  
"Thank God...," Bobby whispered.  
  
"Bobby," she called, shaking her head. "You do know that John is with the enemy now? You know that if the time comes where we oppose again you can't hold back if the   
  
opportunity comes?"  
  
"No... I don't know," he told her.  
  
"We'll have to discuss this with the Professor then," Storm told him, standing and backing away to take her exit. "But now, welcome home."  
  
When she left, Bobby got out of the medical bed and stepped forward. His original wounds weren't so irritating anymore. Things were starting to heal.   
  
He left the room and headed to the main elevator. Now it's time to see the damage that was caused by the attack. He pressed the button to open the elevator and walked in.   
  
It automatically closed and took him up. When the door opened he expected the worse... but another surprise took place.  
  
The mansion was... spotless. He walked out of the elevator, and it closed behind him. Bobby walked into the entrance and took a good look. Everything was... normal.  
  
"Bobby!" Yelled someone from the top of the staircase. Cylcops...  
  
"Mr. Summers!" Bobby yelled back waving.  
  
"Welcome home," he told him and kept walking the way he was going. "I expect you'll be back to class by tomorrow, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Bobby replied laughing.  
  
Even though the mansion had been attacked and the mutant population was in danger, the strict Professor insisted on holding normal classes. Bobby walked upstairs and   
  
down the winding hallways until he reached a door. His room... John's room...  
  
He opened it to see it just the way he left it that night. He sighed when he saw John wasn't there.  
  
"I guess he's still a bad guy," he said to himself and walked in, shutting the door behind him.  
  
The smell of smoke filled the room as usual, direct from John's constant lighter fidgeting.  
  
"Time to go back to normal," Bobby muttered, looking to the bathroom door. "Let's see how it feels to be clean again."  
  
To bad Bobby wasn't right about things being normal. This was only the beginning... 


	24. That Feeling

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 24  
  
That Feeling...  
  
Waking up? Well, it was never Bobby's stronger point. He normally had John throwing something at him to make sure he was up. John wasn't going to let someone else skip class if he couldn't. But he wasn't there to do that now...  
  
Bobby got dressed, grabbed his backpack, and left for his first class. He didn't both to comb his hair or anything like that because what was the use?  
  
When he made it to his first class... everything was the same. The same people clowning around, the same people studying, the same people sleeping. It was... nice.  
  
Bobby sat down in his seat and looked over to the one his left. John's seat...  
  
"Crap," Bobby said out loud, grabbing his head. "Quit thinking about it..."  
  
"About what?" Said someone in front of him and Bobby just shrugged.  
  
"Good Morning class," said a voice from the back. Professor Xavier.  
  
He wheeled in to the front of the class and behind his desk and grabbed his large text book.   
  
"Turn to page 265," he told them and the class did so.  
  
On that page was a double-helix strand of DNA. It looked kind of boring...  
  
"Evolution," Professor Xavier spoke out loud. "I am sure most of you know what this is."  
  
The class laughed. Evolution was the start of all of these people's problems with humanity.  
  
After that the class was silent... there was something missing.  
  
The entire class waited for someone to comment... someone to have something sarcastic to say. The whole class was uncomfortable. That someone was supposed to be sitting to John's left.  
  
It was like at Thanksgiving time for Bobby this past year. After thanksgiving dinner with his Dad's close family, his Aunt Mary would always tell them to go into the Dining room and she played the piano and his family would sit around and sing songs. It was Bobby favorite part. But... two years ago Aunt Mary died of breast cancer. When Thanksgiving dinner was over his entire family moved into the dining room... but his Aunt wasn't there to play the piano. The room was quiet... completely quiet. Except for the tears of his mom and others...  
  
This was that feeling all over again...  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
"... thus this would help ensure that no mutant will be capable of crimes that they will not be identified for. So please vote yes for the MRA." Said a political speaker in front of a huge audience in Washington. A large applause followed his walking off of the stage.  
  
Men in black suits followed close behind them man.   
  
"You think it will be passed?" Asked one of them.  
  
"I'll make sure of it," replied the political speaker.  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Author's Note: Enough of tranquility. The action starts back up next chapter. 


	25. Death Penalty?

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 25  
  
Death Penalty?  
  
"A mutant guilty of electrocuting six men and on woman as of yesterday has been caught and is being held in a rubber cell in Washington," said the News woman on TV. "Peter Callowny, a political speaker, is now officially trying to get a law passed for mutant death penalties. He says that normal death penalties may not be enough to kill some mutants. He wont appear for live broadcasting, but he did give a statement. He said that mutants should only be given one chance, and then be punished. It is up for the people to decide...".  
  
Click... That was the sound the television made when Bobby turned it off. "I can't believe this..."  
  
"That they would give the death penalty?" Asked Kitty from the spot on the couch next to Bobby. "Yeah... I mean this mutant could be confused and had no idea how to control their power. So let's just kill them?"  
  
"Yeah," she replied, looking down. "And I bet the law will get passed to. I mean the majority of the people are 'normal', and they don't trust us... so it would only make sense."  
  
"Yeah," Bobby replied...  
  
How far would this go?  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)Three Weeks Later  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
"The first death penalty given to a mutant has been scheduled for tomorrow. 16 year old Lara Hanikt will be hanged tomorrow for electrocuting six men and one woman at a gas station while she was buying a bag of chips. No motive was given to the sudden massacre of these people, and Lara still plea's innocent. It has been about two years sense the last capital punishment in Washington. New Hampshire and Washington remain the only states that still hang for the death penalty. And now back to Patt for the weather..." said the news man on the TV.  
  
"Man...," said John, looking over at Bethany. "... I never thought this would happen so soon. I mean... I knew it 'would', but not now. I guess I need to catch up with the times..."  
  
"Something is fishy about this...," replied Bethany, looking at him with her icy eyes. "If she was able to kill those people... why didn't she just do the same to the cops or whoever who came after her?"  
  
"Maybe she doesn't know how to control her power," mumbled John. "We've all been there..."  
  
"Still... something isn't right...," she told him.   
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
) Peter Callowny's Office  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
"So," said Peter Callowny sitting behind his desk. "I'm guessing you want to know how I did it?"  
  
"Yes, I do," said a voice sitting in a chair. His face was covered by a shadow.  
  
"Well, I had some men I hired to find a mutant and follow them. They found this girl and observed her. They found out that her power was to create large bolts of electricity, so they followed her into one of those small gas station stores, knocked her out, and killed all the people inside by means of electricity. They called the cops, and by the time she woke up, they had her," he told the man, pouring himself a glass of whiskey and sipping it.  
  
"Genius," said the man. "Now they will start re-considering the MRA. You have done excellent work for me, Peter."  
  
"Yes," replied Peter with a smug smile. "I know what I'm doing."  
  
"But... there is still one more thing left to do to assure that the MRA will be passed," replied the shadowed man. "We need to show how much the mutants don't like the idea of being identified. They need to show hostility towards the most prominent figures that support the MRA."  
  
"... what?" Asked Peter.  
  
The shadowed man snapped his fingers and one of his bodyguards appeared into the light, pulling something from underneath his jacket. A blow torch... He pointed the fire nozzle at Peter.  
  
"Fireworks?" Peter asked nervously.  
  
"No, barbecue," replied the shadowed man. 


	26. Innocent But Proven Guilty

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 26  
  
Innocent... But Proven Guilty  
  
Lara Hanikt sat in her rubber cell somewhere underground. Special Forces surrounded the area, heavily armed... as if she was some kind of weapon of mass destruction...  
  
"Let me out of here!" She yelled. "I didn't do anything!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah," said one of the men sarcastically. "I'm sure it was all just an 'accident', huh?"  
  
Several of the men started to laugh... laugh... laugh? Why laugh? It was if that just because she was different it all-of-a-sudden didn't matter if she died. She was like a bug to these people... a mere insect worth squashing to set an example for the rest.  
  
"LET ME OUT!" She screamed, more out of terror than rage.  
  
Her finger-tips sparked as her power of lightning started to rise from her emotions... But she had tried this before. The thickly rubber coated bars wouldn't give no matter how strong her power surges. She wiggled her hands, making the sparks go out. Then she broke down...  
  
A clock was shining right in front of the cell. It was a digital clock with the time 3:26:42 glowing crimson red into her eyes. That the hours, minutes, and seconds she had to live... her time was short.  
  
Sixteen... so young. She didn't even make it to her senior year. Hell... she didn't even get her first kiss. Or a car... or a...  
  
"I didn't even get my driver's license yet...," she whispered... falling into a deep denial of her death.  
  
She flashed back...  
  
Inside her house. She had woke up and had the smell of breakfast eggs and bacon floating in the air. Her mom always knew how to cook... her Dad on the other hand never knew the difference from a salt and pepper shaker...   
  
Lara laughed... It had been a while.  
  
She wondered what her parents were doing now... Were they fighting for her? Trying to save her?  
  
Or were they denying anything to do with her... pretending that they had nothing to do with her?  
  
It's things like this where you find out that you really don't know your friends or family as well as you thought you did. She had no idea what they were thinking right now... and in 3 hours, 24 minutes, and 14 seconds it wouldn't matter anymore... to either of them.  
  
All she knew is that she didn't do anything wrong... but soon she will be on the platform with the noose tied around her small neck... and she will fall down into the next world...  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
) Xavier Mansion  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
"How tragic...," the Professor said to Cyclops and Storm.  
  
"So are we going to stand aside and let them hang this girl?" Cyclops demanded from the Professor.  
  
"There is nothing we can do," Xavier told him. "We can not get involved with this. We have already been revealed to the public. We can not risk bringing more attention to ourselves, especially by saving a young girl they insist on hanging."  
  
"So we let this innocent girl hang?" Storm asked.  
  
"That is all we can do," Xavier told her. "I can't be responsible for any of the people outside of this institute. It would be unwise and risk everything."  
  
"We can do it anonymously," Cyclops replied. "We can hide our identities."  
  
"It is to risky, Scott," Xavier told him.  
  
"Fine," Scott told him, and stormed out.  
  
Storm quickly followed behind him into the hall, closing Xavier's office door behind her. She was stopped when Cyclops turned suddenly and looked at her through his red lenses.  
  
"Can you believe him?" Scott yelled in question.  
  
"Scott," Storm told him, putting her hands on his shoulder. "Calm down."  
  
"How can I calm down when this girl is go-," he yelled, his face turning red, but Storm interrupted him.  
  
"I have a plan," she told him. "We won't be involved... but I know someone who owes me a favor..." 


	27. Tears

)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Chapter 27  
  
Tears  
  
It was time... before Lara were the steps of fate... the wood steps that led to the rope that would let her dance in the air. The rope... it was more of a snake. Hissing... She didn't want to come closer, but the guards behind her with their guns pointed at her back, ready to fire into her at any kind of false gesture guided her along. up the steps... and there the snake waited... swinging back in forth through the wind, as those beyond the snake whispered and pointed...   
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)Xavier Mansion  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
In the living room, in front of the television was the only place to be. On the screen was a "News Special"... but special wasn't the word they would have used. The first mutant ever to be given the death penalty through use of their powers was being sent up the stairs of the platform. Her hands tied in front of her, and wearing the gray uniform of a prisoner.  
  
"I can't watch," said a voice of a girl, who left soon after, tears spilling out of her eyes.  
  
Bobby's eyes weren't glued onto the screen like everyone else. Instead he was looking to the ground, listening to the details given by the reporter. He didn't want to see the girl... the guilt would overcome him. Bobby knew deep inside that this girl did nothing that could have been avoided. She could have been attacked and had to defend herself... she could have even just lost control or something... something...  
  
"Lara is approaching the top of the stairs. If you look behind her you will see that she is heavily guarded to make sure she doesn't attempt escape using her abnormal abilities," spoke the reporter to the camera.  
  
"Abnormal...," Bobby whispered to himself...  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Lara stood on the falling platform. The snake had caught her... it was constricting around her neck. It grabbed her... it would choke her until death separated them... and even after that the burn of the snake's body would remain on her corpse.  
  
The guard who put the rope around her neck backed away slowly and Lara knew her time was almost up. She took a good glance at the surrounding spectators... all solemn. Why would they want to come watch this? Her death... this just wasn't humane...  
  
But then again, when she said this before they made it a point that Lara wasn't human. She was a freak...   
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
Five miles away from Lara was John and his comrades.  
  
"I can't believe this... we could get killed! Like Bryan..." Natura mumbled.  
  
"Quit complaining!" Samira told her, clutching onto her un-sheathed knives.  
  
"As long is Bethany can freeze we'll be safe," John said looking at Bethany who breathed in deeply. "No pressure or anything."  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
)-()()()()()()()()()()()-(  
  
BLINK...  
  
Blink was on the move. Callisto had ordered her to go to Lara's aid. Why? Callisto owed someone from a previous battle a favor.  
  
Storm. An X-Men, managed to defeat the great Callisto. Normally when you defeat the leader, you become the leader. But Storm denied the position. When she contacted the Morlocks, she asked in return for Callisto's position that they come to rescue the mutant girl charged of murder.  
  
But Blink was running out of time.  
  
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Lara stood looking at the people. Suddenly the floor gave beneath her. She fell... but before the ropes slack gave in, something else happened. Everything around her stopped. Even the rope. Even her thoughts...  
  
Bethany and the others walked quickly up to Lara. She was frozen.   
  
"Get her down," John told Samira, who immediately started to levitate to Lara. She cut the rope with her knife, but since everything was frozen Lara remained in the air.  
  
Samira was about to grab Bethany when... BLINK... BLINK. A girl with violet tinted skin appeared on top of the platform holding Lara in her arms. A teleporter. She stood Lara on the ground.  
  
"Thanks," Blink replied. "If you wouldn't have froze her she would have been a goner."  
  
"Who are you?" Bethany asked... which was a mistake. She lost her grip on her power and things began to move again.  
  
The sound if guns firing was the only thing that was heard next. John looked into the eyes of Lara... It was then... when he saw the death in her eyes that he knew that he wouldn't be able to ever forgive humans for this. For the death of an innocent girl... Tears where the only words John could make...  
  
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A/N: This chapter gave me some major writers block, so I decided to blow it off and move on to a more interesting next chapter. Hope you guys can forgive me. I'll admit it shows immaturity in a writer. 


	28. One of Those Feelings

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Of Fire and Ice  
  
Author: Flame  
  
Archive: Yes  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Now that John has left with Magneto, Bobby is determined to make him come back. But attacks on the mansion and gangs of mutants are obstacles in his path.   
  
(NOT a romance)(Incomplete)  
  
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Chapter 28  
  
One of Those Feelings  
  
Fire... It was the bringer of life and death. It could warm the cold hands of the homeless... or burn the unfortunate to ash. It was neither good nor evil. It can never be understood. And neither could John.  
  
There he was... on the cross inside the candle lit church. Hanging there. Tortured until his death. Left as a mark of warning to all the others. Or was it?  
  
Was this what Bobby thought it was? Or was he missing the true meaning of his dreams? Or was this a sign?  
  
"That's just crazy," he thought to himself. He wasn't a big believer of the "sight" or whatever they like to call it. It just wasn't practical. Not for him at least. He wasn't psychic.  
  
But the scratches... maybe that was what bugged him the most. The clawed flesh peeled from the corpse of John was what made him scared. Scared to what would become of him.  
  
He wished he could stop these dreams of John's death. But who can decide what they dream?  
  
Maybe someday he can find out what they mean...  
  
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)Area 51  
  
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Dr. Walter Morrison walked down the underground corridors of Area 51 in Nevada. He was going to visit their much recent catch. A group of mutants.  
  
He walked up to a door and pulled out his identification card. He routinely ran it through the door slot, and the door opened. Inside was four plastic cylinder shaped cells, and contained in the cells was four mutants that he was going to study.  
  
"Let me out of here!" Yelled a girl from one of the cylinders. Dr. Morrison walked up to her cell and grabbed a clipboard with all her information on it. Natalie Ailas was her name. Her green streaks that ran through her brown hair was a very prominent feature about her.  
  
"Hello Natalie," he told her.  
  
"LET ME OUT!" She yelled, beating the thick plastic, ignoring the fact that he did not call her Natura.  
  
"No, I'm afraid not," he told her with a grin. "I'm afraid you'll be here for as long as you live."  
  
In another cell lay John. Pyro. The boy of an unsolvable enigma. He wasn't awake. He didn't want to. The dying eyes of Lara was haunting him. He could see the fear... the regret... yet a strange sense of happiness. She didn't have to suffer in this world anymore. She left John... she left them all in a world of birds and mice. They were all going to be snatched in the talons of the wicked and fed on.   
  
No... he wasn't going to wake up. But he didn't want to sleep either. The dreams of his stolen past was to much to handle right now. His past... friends... pets... and his mom. They were all gone. They couldn't be retrieved. But he couldn't face it... not now. 


End file.
